With the box-office behaving like the miffed mother-in-law of a saas-bahu serial, a time has come when filmmakers here and in Hollywood are excited over re-releasing their old films. The latest that’s expected to make the most of Valentine’s Day revelry is Bareilly Ki Barfi from BR Chopra’s production house that had boosted the careers of its lead cast — Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao, Kriti Sanon and its director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari — eight years ago.
“BKB ticks all the right boxes,” said Renu Chopra, the lady boss of BR Films. “Romantic re-releases have worked very well and BKB is all heart. Additionally, our writer Nitesh Tiwari has become a major director in his own right.” Nitesh, famous for helming Dangal (2016), has a long association with the BR family; he directed their Bhootnath Returns (2014).
Curiously, the re-release of BKB coincided with the arrival of Loveyapa, a spanking new, content-fresh film with Aamir’s son Junaid and Sridevi-Boney’s daughter Khushi making their theatrical debuts. They have made OTT appearances on Netflix — Junaid in YRF’s Maharaj and Khushi in Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies. On this eclectic Friday, there was also Himesh Reshammiya’s Badass Ravi Kumar, a spin-off of his The Xpose (2014). An unabashed music and action film reminiscent of the 80s, Himesh’s never-say-die re-appearance was labelled the most “economically efficient” film of the week; its music sales ensured a pre-release table profit.
Meanwhile, the re-release fever saw Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar break records with pre sales of over 2,50,000 tickets, grossing approximately ₹8 crore on Friday. It is expected to outperform re-runs like Titanic that had grossed ₹20 crore.
The stunning sidelight is that all films are available on OTT. Yet, a surprising number of them have a paying audience coming into the theatres.
“It is a good sign. It shows that people still love coming to the theatres,”
observed Abhay Chopra, producer of BKB. “People still choose to come and relive the community-watching experience. The re-release of films like Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani prove that if you tell great and engaging stories, people will come to watch it over and over again.”
On the re-run of his own BKB, Chopra remarked, “We were all pleasantly surprised at the love this film garnered on its initial release... To be entertained and to feel love, what better time than the Valentine season?”
The Deepika-Ranbir film Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013) gave its backers a bonus of ₹21 crore in its re-run. The ₹5 crore arthouse film Tumbbad (2018) fetched ₹38 crore in its re-run. Laila Majnu (2018), which didn’t make even ₹3 crore the first time around, notched three times the amount in its second outing, a success attributed to the popularity of heroine Triptii Dimri. Hero Avinash Tiwary is, incidentally, the hero of Boman Irani’s first directorial venture The Mehta Boys, available on Amazon.
However, not all re-releases work. Rakesh Roshan, who had gone off interviews until The Roshans was streamed, broke his silence to promote Karan Arjun (1995) when it was re-released, regaling reporters with stories of Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan’s antics during the shooting of the film. Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai (2000) was also re-released to coincide with its 25th anniversary and Hrithik Roshan’s 51st birthday. Huge hits in their day, both films were underwhelming as re-runs.
“It is just a little extra earning for theatres and producers especially when theatres are running empty,” said Narendra Gupta, a trade observer.
Rakesh Roshan was his candid self. “A re-release is just a celebration,” he said. A celebration that offers a bit of pocket money to filmmakers and the trade.
As Karan Johar always says, “You can never have enough of money or blessings.”
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and an author
