So the Indian superhero is raking in the moolah despite being mercilessly massacred by the majority of the mediamen. And Hollywood’s Superman has not managed to fly too high in spite of all the rave press reviews.
Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish opened to thunderous applause two weeks back but it was greeted with reviews that were far from flattering. Even the film trade predicted doom for the Rs 35 crore film starring Hrithik Roshan. However, the first week’s figures left both the media and the film industry with egg on their faces because Krrish surpassed all previous records in every territory in India.
Fanaa and Phir Hera Pheri, till now neck-and-neck as the biggest hits of 2006, were overtaken by the desi Superman, that too, by a big margin. For instance, against the first week’s record distributor’s share of Rs 3.35 crore for Fanaa in Delhi-UP, Krrish yielded Rs 4.35 crore.
Very few Hindi films touch the coveted Rs 1 crore mark during their run in West Bengal but Krrish managed Rs 1.25 crore in the first week itself. Exhibitors at small centres were especially euphoric as they saw healthy collections at their cinemas ? something they had not dreamt of. As it is, cinemas in ‘C’ class centres have been reeling under losses for the last few years as filmmakers prefer to cater to city and overseas audiences. With Krrish, exhibitors are smiling again as they dust off their house full boards. The total net share (as against the gross collections of Rs 60 crore plus) of the all-world distributors of Krrish was a whopping Rs 30 crore plus, almost equal to its cost. That means that the expensive film managed to recover its cost in the first week.
In spite of these startling figures, there seems to be a perception among people that Krrish is not as big a hit as it is being made out to be. The notion stems from the fact that the film isn’t running to packed houses. But in today’s times of over-saturated release, the concept of full houses is outdated.
As against 25 cinema theatres in a city like Mumbai or 12 to 13 theatres in Delhi, say, five years ago, a film today opens in 45 cinema theatres in Mumbai and 20 theatres in Delhi. Besides, house full boards were a common sight when a theatre had four shows a day. Today, some multiplexes are screening 13 and 14 shows of Krrish daily. What finally matters is not 25 full houses or 100 house full shows (25 X 4 = 100) in Mumbai but the money that comes in from 45 theatres in a total of around 450 shows daily (average 10 shows per theatre daily) even if they are three-fourths full. The economics of the film business has changed radically.
If Krrish worked wonders at the ticket windows, the sequel of Superman proved to be a damp squib. That is to say, Superman barely managed returns, as its title, Superman Returns, proclaimed. In fact, its prints, at least of the dubbed Hindi version, had to be returned by the theatres playing it!
The Hindi version, titled only Superman, had a dismal start when it opened a week after Krrish. All industry predictions that Krrish would crash once Hollywood’s Superman struck were proven wrong ? and how! No doubt, Superman Returns fared better than Superman but Krrish in its second week gave Superman (both versions) tough competition. What must have been particularly dismaying for the Hollywood movie is that like it, Krrish was also dubbed in Telugu and Tamil and those versions were released on the same day as Krrish.
Again, in the two South Indian languages, Krrish was on a record-breaking spree while Superman was poised to break the backs of its distributors. The Swaraj movement of pre-Independence India just got a shot in the arm. After all, it’s no mean achievement that the desi superhero, made at a cost of $ 7 million, scored over the imported superhero which cost $ 260 million to make.
P.S.:
Kumarmangalam Birla had a special print of Krrish made at a cost of Rs 40,000 when he wanted to see the film at his private preview theatre. Rakesh Roshan could not oblige the industrialist with a print as there were none to spare. Rather than wait for a print to become available, Birla ordered a fresh print from the lab. He loved the film so much that he sent an sms to the filmmaker introducing himself and asking whether he could phone him. When Roshan replied to the sms by telephoning him, the business tycoon showered encomiums on him and son Hrithik. And yes, he returned the print to Roshan who will naturally refund its cost to Birla.
Komal Nahta is editor, Film Information
