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Chalte Chalte keeps Bhoot momentum going
SUDIPTO DEY / AN ECONOMICTIMES.COM EXCLUSIVE
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2003 01:06:15 AM ]
NEW DELHI: Bollywood never had it so good for some time. After Andaaz, Iskq Vishk, and Ram Gopal Varma's spine-chiller, Bhoot, hit the bulls eye at the box office, Shah Rukh Khan-Rani Mukherjee starrer Chalte Chalte seems to be taking the good work forward. Audiences lapped up the family drama – the first Shah Rukh Khan release after Devdas - with nearly 90 per cent collections over the weekend in the major metros.
"The dry spell for Bollywood has finally come to an end and people are coming back to the theatres," says Taran Adarsh, editor, Trade Guide.
Going by the bumper opening, most in the trade believe that the distributors are likely to recover their costs after a "decent" two-week run at the box office. "If the movie is able to maintain its collections at around 75 per cent level over a two-week period, it should see most distributors through," points out Amod Mehra, a trade analyst and a distributor.
The producers too are not likely to be disappointed. What works in favour of the Rs 10-crore film is that though it has been billed as a Shah Rukh Khan-starrer with all the attendant glitz, the movie has been priced relatively low.
Distributors says that for a Shah Rukh Khan film the price - ranging between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2 crore per territory - is pretty modest. Major part of the costs of the Aziz Mirza-directed movie have been recovered even before its release through Rs 6 crore collected as international distributor rights and the Rs 3 crore price tag of its music, bagged by T-series.
Television satellite rights of the movie - currently under negotiations - are expected to contribute around Rs 2 crore to the kitty.
The producers - Shah Rukh Khan's Dreamz Unlimited and UTV - have a winner in their hands, is the general verdict of the trade.
However, what remains to be seen if the movie is able to maintain interest level of audience over the next two-to-three weeks. Adarsh expects "women-power" or Khan's draw among the fairer sex to keep the movie afloat. However, not everybody is convinced that Khan will be able to pull it off.
Mehra feels that comparisons with Rani Mukherjee-Vivek Oberio-starrer Saathiya are inevitable. "The expectations from the movie are pretty high given the fact that this is Khan's first flick to hit the big screen this year," points out Mehra.
However, one thing most in the industry feel that the success of the recent hits like Andaaz, Iskq Vishk, and Bhoot bring out is the power of marketing and promos. "All these movies were targeted at specific audiences and their promos played a key role in drawing in the crowd," says Mehra.
The producers of Chalte Chalte too recognised the Khan's ability to draw in the audiences and featured him extensively in the promos that have been running on television screens over the past two-three months. A direct fall out of the hardsell, sales of the music cassettes of the movie have crossed the 6-lakh mark while CD sales have been in the region of 1 lakh units.
However, Bollywood is still keeping its fingers crossed about its summer fortunes. Among others, the fate of three big budget movies, Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwanee Hoon (Rs 25 crore, June 27 release), J P Dutta's LoC (Rs 40 crore, August release) and Rakesh Roshan's Koi Mil Gaya (Rs 35 crore, August release), will decide whether the good going at the box office is a blip.
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