Earlier this year, Salman Khan tested the waters of pay-per-view entertainment with Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. Now, Jackie Shroff’s upcoming drama, The Interview: Night of 26/11, is taking a similar route. In the Hindi remake of the Dutch film, Interview (2003), Shroff plays an ace war correspondent who changes tracks from serious journalism to sensationalism when he gets an opportunity to interview a leading Bollywood heroine.

The actor, who has watched the 2003 original, says he jumped at the opportunity to feature in its adaptation. “I enjoyed working with international director Laurens Postma. My character is stuck in an interview with a Bollywood actress on the night of 26/11, but as the hours pass, the interview goes off the rails. Prawaal Raman’s dialogues brought a lot of depth to the characters,” he says.

The fate of the Shroff-starrer remains to be seen as it premieres on BookMyShow Stream in a pay-per-view model. Films in India so far haven’t had a successful tryst with the model — while Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday-led Khaali Peeli tanked last year, Radhe enjoyed initial success but soon fell prey to piracy. 

Vir Das and Jonita Gandhi

From live-streaming music gigs and comedy specials to interactive plays, mid-day gets a behind-the-scenes understanding of virtual entertainment amid the lockdown
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 17, 2020)

The film and television industry may have come to a screeching halt, but Indian viewers are, by no means, short on entertainment. When Prateek Kuhad is not live-streaming his performance on the Internet, Vir Das pops up on your laptop screen, ready with his at-home comedy special. In the three weeks of lockdown, how we consume entertainment has changed as much as how we live, with an increasing number of artistes exploring virtual gigs.

Amongst the first to tap into this was BookMyShow that enabled various virtual live properties, including performances by Indian Ocean and Karsh Kale. "Thanks to great collaborations and Instagram as the host platform, we brought live music, dramatised readings, poetry recitals and stand-up comedy sessions to the safety of viewers' homes. We kickstarted the #StayFitIndiaChallenge that features over 50 trainers offering more than 500 fitness sessions," says Albert Almeida, COO, Live Entertainment, BookMyShow.

He explains that they promote an upcoming offering aggressively through various social media channels to ensure maximum eyeballs. "#LiveInYourLivingRoom, which had Armaan Malik, Ankur Tewari, and Jonita Gandhi performing, amassed close to half a million viewers."

While promotion is the relatively easy part of the game, the execution poses a bigger challenge. Ask Roshan Abbas (right), whose company Kommune took entertainment a step ahead by curating the virtual play, Lockdown Love, that was performed over Zoom by Priyanshu Painyuli and Shriya Pilgaonkar.

"We experimented for two weeks with the core team to perfect the technological aspect of our play. A week went into scripting and casting, after which we prepped for the next few days. The challenge here is the [Internet's] bandwidth. We took feedback after our first preview on Sunday, and people categorically said two things — that it's a lot less personal than regular plays, and it should be made more interactive. So, we will be incorporating these aspects in our next show," explains Abbas.

While the Internet has its share of open-to-all gigs, organisers are slowly moving towards monetising the acts. For instance, Abbas's play was priced at Rs 499 per person. "The proceeds from the gig went to charity. As far as monetisation goes, there are different models to tap into different sections of the audience. Some comics are selling their shows for Rs 299 and there are four-week virtual workshops available for Rs 5,000." He adds that this could be the way ahead as brands are heavily investing in virtual content. "After all, for the next few months, this is the new normal."

It is evident that there is no dearth of takers — Vir Das has sold out 12 virtual shows of Vir Das At Home, tickets for which were priced at Rs 499. "Technology has made it easier for us to plan and produce shows over video calls. The audience is available out there. How long can it be sustained? That's tough to say. I hope people keep coming in larger numbers over the next few weeks. If there's a demand, there will be supply."


The team of Lockdown Love during their prep


Prateek Kuhad and Ankur Tiwari singing live from home

In a case of gross mismanagement, platinum concert- goers ended up in the same arena as silver ticket holders; a few attendees recall their nightmare and accuse organisers of apathy
Gaurav Sarkar (MID-DAY; May 12, 2017)

With the dissent over Justin Bieber’s concert running deep among a section of Mumbaikars, it seems the pop star’s lip-syncing and shortage of dustbins at the venue was just the tip of the iceberg.

“The queue at the box office was held up because they ran out paper to print the tickets on,” said 21-year-old Leon Saalis de Souza, a Byculla-based PR consultant and musician. Leon and his friend reached the venue at 5 pm, an hour before DJ Alan Walker — who they were excited about— was scheduled to come on stage. But the duo were stuck in a stationary queue for nearly an hour. “I managed to get my tickets close to 7 pm, but Walker’s set had ended by then.”

Silver, platinum same same
Given that the tickets were reportedly priced from Rs 5,000 to Rs 70,000, one would think that all the offers mentioned for the higher priced tickets, which includes free merchandise, a separate section distancing them from the lower paid ticket holders, as well as a back stage tour, would have been adhered to. However, the gig was so unorganised that the silver, platinum, and VVIP 3 sections ended up getting clubbed together.

Javed Sheikh, 48, a Colaba resident who attended the concert with his wife, daughter, and nephew, has written to BookMyShow citing that a ‘clear fraud has been committed by Bookmyshow and the event organisers’. His email states: “We demand a complete refund and also let us know as to how you would compensate us for the stress, inconvenience, loss of time and harassment.”

Speaking to mid-day, Sheikh, who had paid around Rs 35,000 for each VVIP 3 (backstage) ticket, said: “Our VVIP 3 passes promised us a backstage tour, free merchandise and the designated section for such ticket holders was highlighted in a different colour. But we were all clubbed together. Three hours into the show we were promised a different section, but that didn’t happen. The merchandise stall collapsed at 4 pm.”

Getting benefits of Rs 35,000 out of a Rs 15,000 ticket, he has asked his bank to do a chargeback on the tickets citing the same reasons.

Reacting to the complaint, a BookMyShow rep said, “We understand and share the customer’s concerns on some of the highlighted issues and are working with the organisers, White Fox India, to promptly address them.”

In spite of being the first ones to enter the gates at around 2 PM, Juhu-based fashion designer Amy Billimoria, who had bought two platinum tickets for Rs 15,000 each for her and her 13-year-old daughter Aaryanne early in February, had a nightmarish experience. “My daughter is a hardcore Belieber and wanted was to see him up close.” But after entering, Amy was unable to find the entry for the platinum section. They were guided through the silver arena, and were amazed to see that none other than silver ticket holders, who refused to budge, had occupied the front row in the platinum section. “Despite pointing that out to the authorities, none took action,” said Amy.

First day, first show of Bahubali in certain theatres in city costs Rs 1500 a stub
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; April 27, 2017)

The anticipation for Baahubali: The Conclusion has reached a crescendo. And if one had to put it to sheer numbers, it would translate to one million tickets a day. The film has registered the highest advance ticket sales just two days ahead of release, shattering the record of Aamir Khan-starrer Dangal.

Popular online ticket booking platform, BookMyShow, yesterday announced that it had already sold over a million tickets in just over 24 hours for the war drama, a 45 per cent hike from Dangal’s first day sales. What’s more, the bookings haven’t opened across all cinemas, especially in the South.

Ashish Saksena, COO Cinemas, BookMyShow, said, “Though Baahubali 2 is perceived to be loved by the South Indian audience, the response from Hindi-speaking markets has been highly encouraging. Once all South cinemas fix their schedules, e-ticket sales will soar further.”

Given the Baahubali craze with fans impatient to find out why Kattappa killed Bahubali, ticket prices are at an all time high. For Dangal, an Xmas release, it was Rs 800. But for a non-holiday IPL season release, the cost of first day first show is in the range of Rs 1200-1500 at bigger multiplexes like Inox and PVR. Baahubali 2 is releasing across 6,500 creens in India.

Kamal Gianchandani, CEO PVR Pictures, refused to comment. Exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi says, “The overhead cost for any multiplex is high and in the past few months, not many films have done great business. A hike of 10-15 per cent is justified because in case of grand films like Baahubali, people are willing to overpay.”


A screen grab of a Friday 8 am ticket cost at PVR Icon, Versova 

Anshul Dhamija & Boby Kurian (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 30, 2015)