A fickle Box Office

RETROFIT

Why MNIK didn't work!

Friday after Friday, the fate of stars and their bankrollers - theproducers and bulge bracket distributors - is decided on the boxoffice across the world. Hit ya flop is an adage as old as the hillsin B Town. First day first show has become the centrifuge of allconversations in B Town more than ever with the emergence of theparadigm game changers - the multiplex and overseas market. So, thefocal point is not just on first day first show but increasingly onthe opening weekend, onthe lines of the US. With many Yash Raj films like Fanaa, Dhoom 2, andmore recently with 3 Idiots a new term was introduced in the lexiconof B Town - the Rs 100 crore gross B.O collection over the first week.Gone are the days of 100 days and silver jubilee and golden jubilees.Rajendra Kumar for instance was known as Jubilee Kumar.Amitabh Bachchan in his prime used to have his movies running foreverand several concurrently at that. I remember Yash Chopra once tellingme that - this is when Dilwale Dulhaniya became a monster hit in themid 90s - he had never seen so much money in his life. That I thoughtwas a staggering comment for a man who has the best body of work inHindi cinema. People think of him only as the purveyor of chiffonromances, but Yashji has made Waqt, Ittefaq, Aadmi Aur Insaan, Deewar,Trishul, Kaala Pathar, Mashaal and many more - seminal cinema whichhas left deep imprints in the minds of the savants of celluloid.
But cinema's commercial landscape has changed indelibly in recenttimes. The big bang opening weekend determines the course of the film.Ticket price inflation has added to the cash registers and thecontours of calculating collections has metamorphosed. Greater Mumbaiand National Capital Region - Delhi now contribute as much as 50 percent of all box office revenues. The monetisation of overseasterritories is another tectonic shift. Something that did not existearlier. Yash Chopra and Karan Johar's cinema has opened new vistas asnon resident Indians have begun to flock to Hindi films in disparatedestinations. Between Greater Mumbai, NCR-Delhi and overseasterritories, the battle is pretty much won.
On Saturday, I went to watch My Name is Khan at a Gurgaon multiplexwhich normally is cheaper than others, but to my dismay ticket priceshad been jacked up for the Fox Searchlight release. Anyway once thatwas out of the way, I enjoyed the movie immensely. Maybe the MamaJenny Wilhelmina, Georgia sequences were overdone, but the movie wastaut and endearing. I loved it. It was vintage SRK, but in a new moresensitive avatar. I liked him in Chak De as well, but here was anextremely restrained and emotive SRK. The row behind us hated thefilm, probably because they failed to understand the nuances. Thetypical - yeh to bakwas hai - litany was heard. And there and then Ithought to myself; will this movie be a gangbuster hit? Will everybodytake to this film and accept the line - My Name is Khan and I am not aterrorist? My fear was that this movie would berejected by the masses and appreciated by the classes, aka multiplexesin prominent urban agglomerates. Of course, the NRIs would flock tothe theatres because SRK is a big draw with them. With this bittersweet taste aboutthe film, I picked up the ToI on Monday morning and saw - After 3Idiots, MNIK adds to BO bonanza. The film critic Nikhat Kazmi gavedetails of how MNIK despite all the problems with its release inMaharashtra owing to the Sena's call for a ban on the film had doneexceedingly well at the B.O.
The same afternoon, I read a more illuminating piece on rediff.com bySyed Firdaus Ashraf. It said that - "My Name is Khan opened with abang at the box office, earning a whopping Rs 85 crores (US $18m), butit saw a drop in business fromMonday as the word of the mouth was not good enough to sustain thefilm. Though many critics loved it and so did the classes, the massesoverall seem to be in a rejection mode. Says Komal Nahta, Bollywoodtrade analyst, "On the whole, My Name Is Khan is far from entertainingand also too boring for the general masses. For the heavy budget atwhich it has been made, it will keep its worldwide distributors (FoxSearchlight) in the red. Business inbig cities, especially in South India, Muslim centres andoverseas will be better but it will be below the mark in North Indiaas also in smaller centres and single-screen cinemas. It may beappreciated by the class audience but the masses will reject thefilm."
Once the Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray gave the clarion call toshun the film, the buzz reached fever pitch. Sena wanted ShahrukhKhan to apologise to the nation after he argued for Pakistaniplayers's induction in the IPL. This created a furore and Thackerayordered Shiv Sainiks to see that the film was not released in Mumbaiand Maharashtra. It then became a political hotpotato as the ruling alliance in the State tried its level best toensure that the film's screening took place uninterrupted. Rediff.comwent on to say - "The curiosity value is over, it seems. The picturehas suffered a considerable drop in collections on Monday," said VinodMirani, another Bollywood trade analyst.Added Amod Mehra, another trade analyst, "At this moment, it appearsthe film will not be able to recover the cost because it has been soldat a high price."
Asked about critics loving the film and some of them even giving fivestars rating, Mehra said, "Earlier there were paid previews of thefilm, now there is paid review of the film." A very dangerous andtelling comment of the prevailing system. Naysayersnotwithstanding, the film had a spectacular opening for the firstweekend. Now this was an interesting and refreshing departure fromwhat was being reported everywhere. Let us understand that MNIK was avery expensive film. Fox Star had paid a bomb for it (Rs 90 crore).The film was promoted very aggressively by SRK himself and the troikaof Kajol, karan Johar and himself were practically parked intelevision studios. I think they were on NDTV every single night, if Iam not mistaken.
On Tuesday morning, I saw another story in ET with the headline - Myname is chasing 3 idiots. Was the Fox, Johar, SRK publicity machineryin overdrive? But ET's story had the same cryptic message that therediff story had earlier. It said, "Film analysts believe the moviehas done very well internationally, though in India it did better inurban centres than in smaller centres." Nahata was quoted here as wellsaying more or less the same thing that he had said to rediff had said- It did muchbetter in international markets compared with domestic market. TaranAdarsh, another film analyst mirrored this opinion in the story. Atthis point, I thought what the hell, let us check businessofcinema.comwhich is more or less accurate about ground zero as far as B.O isconcerned.
This what it reported - My Name Is Khan has grossed Rs 902 million (Rs90.2 crore) worldwide in its opening weekend. Even the fact that itwas a non-holiday 3-day weekend vis a vis both the previous highgrossing films, which had 4-day Christmas weekends, did not prove tobe a deterrent for Shah Rukh Khan. The movie has smashed existingglobal opening records in every country in which it was released thisweekend. My Name is Khan has scorched screens worldwide and raked inRs 902 million (Rs 90.2 crore) ($ 19 million) worldwide in three daysmaking it the biggest ever three-day collection worldwide ever. "Themost exciting part is that the worldwide collections jumped every dayfrom Friday to Saturday to Sunday. This shows that the audience isabsolutely loving Rizvan and Mandira," says Vijay Singh, CEO Fox StarStudios. Sunday GBO in markets like US, Australia, UK & Middle Eastset new records for the Biggest single day internationally for aBollywood movie. Just to give a sense of scale, the overall weekendcollections of MNIK have been double of closest competitor 3 Idiotsworldwide. Sanford Panitch, president of FIP, was esctatic over theresults, saying, "While initially driven by the power of thisextraordinary cast and director, it is My Name Is Khan as a film thathas captivated audiences everywhere we have opened. An incrediblestart to this powerful and moving film." In India, despite the issuesin Maharashtra, Gujarat, Indore and other centres on Friday & part ofSaturday, the film has opened exceptionally well. In states where thefilm opened normally, including Delhi-UP, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,Kerala, the collections have been the highest ever."
An accurate assessment of the situation. Yes, the film hit the bullseye on the opening weekend, but its complex storyline has not beengrasped by all and sundry. There is another trendline emerging here,if MNIK has actually fared badly after its stunning opening. ThatHindi film audiences are not willing to accept too much of terror andthe Islamic backdrop. Look at what happened to Kurbaan. Then again acouple of swallows don't make a summer. After all, New York did verywell. But Kabir Khan's handling of the plot was subtle and diffusedtill the second half when it exploded in your face. Again, New Yorkwas lapped up by urban audiences and it was the first movie to bereleased after the multiplex-producer stand off. The dam just burstand a fresh casting did the trick.
MNIK was after Chak De SRK's greatest acting performance. Week one andweek two will determine its fate and future course. B Town ismerciless, replete with crabs. I remember Subhash Ghai built up Yadeinto such an extent that the world expected the Hrithik and Kareenapairing to deliver a blockbuster. The movie, sorry gobbledygookcrashed and Ghai has never been the same again. Ask Akshay Kumar, hewill tell you that you cannot take the audience for granted. Not for aday or a moment.