Movies express in crores

2012 has been an awesome year for Bollywood as it earned a whopping Rs.2,273-crore profit! Eight movies got into the 100 crore league.  150 releases in all in the year and not a single one caused a disastrous result.  It is strange how these days we analyze art in terms of money. Movies are creative expression we would agree, isn’t it? It has to be liked by people and how would you quantify that? We earlier considered a movie successful when it ran for a long time. We  gush over the fact that DDLJ ( Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge) is still running continuously for 17 long years at Maratha Mandir in Mumbai. Sholay was another mega hit whose record DDLJ broke in 2001. The movie ran for 5 years. Mughal-E-Azam ran for 3 years, Barsaat for 2 years, Raja Hindustani,Mohabbatein,Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun all for one year.

Now do we even think how long a movie runs? There are no stats for that. The figures we have of the grosser this year are “Ek Tha Tiger”  around Rs.190 crore, “Son Of Sardaar” Rs.105 crore,  “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” Rs. 121 crore,  “Barfi!” Rs.110 crore and of “Bol Bachchan” Rs.105 crore. The crore formula seems to be music now for our ears. No one cares if the movie runs only for a month. The interesting thing to note is that in the past there were single theaters and the ticket’s prices were not that much. So if the movies are now earning in crores is it because the single tickets cost Rs 250-500 on an average? The  multiplex fever has set in and we all would agree that it is gaining popularity day by day so much so that the trade pundits were heard saying now 1000 seats are needed instead of normal 215 seats or so. High priced tickets seem to cause no impact on the people as they have to watch the movies anyhow.

This year has sprung up surprises as small budget films also did exceptionally well and earned in crores again. Eight blockbusters and the three Khans have been named the reason for the stupendous success. “Ek Tha Tiger”, “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” and “Talaash” all touched gold as well another Khan starrer “Cocktail”. The question still remains, do the movies sell or the stars. The trade analysts are now considering of Rs200 crore club. Next we would hear the Rs300 crore and Rs 400 crore clubs.

What is evident that movies are now business. There are investments and there are returns. Nothing bad in it but how do we analyze the super hits based on what users liked? If a good movie which doesn’t have a overpriced ticket runs successfully for some time and in comparison to that a blockbuster with high priced tickets also runs for the same amount of time but maybe not having packed halls like the former what would we call a superhit movie? We would in the present circumstances consider the blockbuster a superhit simply for the reason that it may have earned more than the previous one. So there are calculations like what would be the price of the ticket, in how many screes it will run. No one would bother to see which movie brought tears in the eyes of the audience or which movie lifted his spirit instantly. Movies are a two way medium, the audience also interacts with it in their own way. Earlier filmmakers wanted to feel that pulse, these days they have to think about stats. Times are changing here too in the movie world.