Showing posts with label Mysore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mysore. Show all posts
50 years of Sholay: Minerva opened its current booking only in 62nd week; footfalls in Rajkot double the population of the city
4:51 PM
Box Office India Trade Network
SHOLAY, which released fifty years ago, remains the biggest BLOCKBUSTER that India has ever seen and there is a good chance the film will probably hold this title forever as nothing has really come close. In fact, it can be said with almost total confidence that nothing will ever come close. There are adjectives like phenomenal and extraordinary used today for many films like BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONLCUSION, GADAR 2, JAWAN, STREE 2, PUSHPA 2 - THE RULE and more so when they are used for these films. In that case, SHOLAY can't really be described in words as its far bigger. On top if that, many films today have manufactured collections to reach the levels which they finally reach.
Till today, there remains a huge misconception that SHOLAY did not open well and the film picked up and this is in the industry as well. Nothing can be further from the truth. The film broke all the records on release with higher admission rates (Bombay) than normal (this used to happen even then) in almost every cinema it was released.
The best way to explain this misconception is NOISE. Its something much that much of the industry will understand today as today when a film releases there is a lot of NOISE which can be positive or negative but may not be same as the result of the film. This would have been the same case with SHOLAY as no way is the initial anything short of bumper. The same critic community that today probably raves about the film had bummed the film but this is how public changes the opinion of a minority who had no clue and probably still does not.
The film was first released in Bombay and Ahmedabad and so the reaction of the public may not have been the jump out of seats type as in both centres it was the social films and dramas which were more liked rather than action films especially dacoit action films. The earlier dacoit film, MERA GAON MERA DESH, which was a huge BLOCKBUSTER and very similar to SHOLAY had come to Bombay circuit after it had already emerged a huge BLOCKBUSTER in Delhi/UP.
It was the case with all dacoit films as MERA GAON MERA DESH was the only dacoit film before SHOLAY to emerge a big blockbuster in Mumbai. But still collections remained less than a HAATHI MERE SAATHI, the other big blockbuster released in the same year though they were far ahead in Delhi. Basically SHOLAY was huge HIT from the first show but the NOISE around the film within the industry and trade probably perturbed the makers as the cost of the film was more than double of anything released before.
The film opened in East Punjab a week later on August 21, 1975 and here the response was wild and it would have been clear that film would create history as Delhi/UP and the Central markets and Bihar had a tendency for similar results. In those days, even West Bengal was similar to the Northern and Central circuits. It opened in these circuits on October 3, 1975 and the response was exactly as in East Punjab.
The film eventually went on to do a GOLDEN JUBILEE (50 weeks consecutive run) in 28 cinemas and in those days if a film did SILVER JUBILEE (25 weeks consecutive run) in 10 cinemas it would be a BLOCKBUSTER film. SHOLAY was not just about what it did in those first fifty weeks as it remained a theatrical beast for the next two decades also until the repeat run business slowly died due to satellite television and single screens shut up shop as multiplexes came along. The film eventually trebled the business it had done in the first year.
The list of the Golden Jubilee cinemas for SHOLAY are as follows.
1. Minerva - Bombay
2. Roopali - Ahmedabad
3. Alankar - Baroda
4. Galaxy - Rajkot
5. Apollo - Pune
6. Usha - Kolhapur
7. Meena - Sholapur
8. Rex - Belgaum
9. Ajanta - Hubli
10. Plaza - Delhi
11. Novelty - Delhi
12. Sundar - Kanpur
13. Leela - Lucknow
14. Raghunath - Agra
15. Anand - Varanasi
16. Gautam - Allahabad
17. Menka - Meerut
18. Krishna - Gorakhpur
19. Raj - Amritsar
20. Panchsheel - Nagpur
21. Manek - Akola
22. Krishna - Bhopal
23. Regal - Ujjain
24. Jyoti - Calcutta
25. Ramakrishna - Hyderabad
26. Santosh - Bangalore
27. Satyam - Madras
28. Delite - Coimbatore
The opening collections of SHOLAY were as follows and records were SMASHED wherever it opened unlike what is said in the media and much of the industry believes.
Mumbai (Released 15th August 1975)
Minerva - 7,470 (HF)
New Excelsior - 7,992 (HF)
Geeta - 5,285 (HF)
Ganesh - 4,828 (HF)
Deepak - 4,640 (HF)
Sharda - 4,970 (HF)
Badal - 6,207 (HF)
Aurora - 4,746 (HF)
Neptune - 6,252 (HF)
Kala Mandir - 7,524 (HF)
Milan - 4,873 (HF)
Chandan - 4,561 (HF)
Bahar - 4,628 (HF)
Oscar - 4,949 (HF)
Sangam - 4,798 (HF)
Hanjer - 5,730 (HF)
Samrat - 7,587 (HF)
New Era - 4,621 (HF)
Sona - 4,930 (HF)
Jaya - 4,347 (HF)
Akash - 3,999 (HF)
Kalpana - 5,483 (HF)
Basant - 5,564 (HF)
Sahakar - 5,251 (HF)
Shreyas - 6,635 (HF)
Odeon - 5,730 (HF)
Anand - 5,844 (HF)
Vandana - 5,690 (HF)
New Prakash - 3,906 (HF)
Sapna - 3,941 (HF)
Prabhat - 3,830 (HF)
Haseen - 5,662 (HF)
TOTAL - 1,73,473 (All 32 Cinemas Housefull). The film smashed the record of DOST (1974) which had collected 1.41 lakhs on day one
Ahmedabad (Released 15th August 1975)
Rupali - 7,121 (HF)
Anupam - 6,855 (HF)
Milan - 5,715 (HF)
Mohan - 4,673 (HF)
Priya - 5,072 (HF)
Sapna - 3,923 (HF)
Lalit Mahal - 3,487 (HF)
Drive In - 7,465
TOTAL - 44,311 (7 out of 8 theatres Housefull). The film beat the record of ROTI KAPADA AUR MAKAAN (1974) which had collected 43,565.
East Punjab (Released 22nd August 1975)
Jyoti Jalandhar - 9,389 (Over Capacity)
Gagan Amritsar - 12,190 (Over Capacity)
Aarti Ludhiana - 10,978 (Over Capacity)
Swarn Jammu - 6,077 (Over Capacity)
Jagat Chandigarh - 5,596 (HF)
Malwa Patiala - 5,743 (Over Capacity)
Hari Ambala - 5,417 (Over Capacity)
Pushpa Hissar - 4,452 (Over Capacity)
KC Karnal - 4,987 (HF)
TOTAL - 64,829 (Second to ROTI KAPADA AUR MAKAAN (1974) but that film released on 12 theatres compared to the 9 of SHOLAY. That film had collected 71,987 on day one.)
Mysore (Released 22nd August 1975)
Kapali Bangalore - 8,856 (HF)
Apsara Bngalore - 6,453 (HF)
Nandi Bangalore - 4,714 (HF)
Nalanda Bangalore - 4,235 (HF)
Lavanya Bangalore - 3,765 (HF)
Galaxy Bangalore - 5,003 (HF)
Geethanjali Bangalore- 3,425
Sujatha Bangalore - 4,249 (HF)
Govardhan Bangalore - 3,089
Sangeet Bangalore - 1,662 (HF) Morning shows only
TOTAL - 45,451 (Beat the record of DHARMATMA (1975) which had collected 37,564 on day one)
The film then opened in Delhi /UP, CP, CI Rajasthan, Nizam/Andhra and East India on 3rd October 1975 to a similar bumper response breaking all opening day records in all these circuits. Again like East Punjab, many theatres in UP, Bihar and West Bengal went over capacity from first day.
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The biggest BLOCKBUSTER ever in India, SHOLAY, is celebrating its fifty years and it set records which were unthinkable and the records are a never ending story. Pages can be written about the records as one they are huge and second all genuine and non of the manufactured stuff which goes on aplenty today for even the bigger grossers. The records were set across the country even in the cities of the South where it had numbers competing with the biggest regional films be it Madras, Hyderabad or Bangalore.
A feat of the film in Bombay was that the main cinema Minerva opened its current booking in the 62nd week. Basically the film celebrated a Golden Jubilee and yet current was not open as film was going full in advance. The film ran for 269 weeks in this cinema with 149 weeks coming with regular shows and then 118 weeks in matinee and then a further two weeks in regular shows and these two final weeks went 100% and it could have went on and on. Nothing was pushed here which was the case at that time as many films were run in deficit especially in Bombay city to reach a certain benchmark be it 25 weeks, 50 weeks and even 60 and 75 weeks. SHOLAY was replaced with another huge film from the same production house, SHAAN, which also ran very well in the cinema.
SHOLAY celebrated a Golden Jubilee at Galaxy cinema in Rajkot (Gujarat) and the total numbers are below of its fifty week run. The film opened to a bumper response of 100% collecting exactly 3,901.02 nett on the first day. Again a bumper opening here and again totally opposite of the NOISE which said and still says the film opened poorly.
Nett - 9,83,400
Gross - 20,12,991
Footfalls - 6,70,439
The numbers above done really mean much today but what has to be added is that Rajkot had a population of 3.65 lakh at the time. The footfalls of the film are more than double the population of the city and this does not mean that everyone watched it twice or a lot if people watched it many times. There will be people who repeated the film but the footfalls were so high as so many people were coming from smaller towns and villages in and around Rajkot. It was not the story in Rajkot but many centres across the country. This was the audience which made film huge blockbusters but it started to dwindle from the start of the century though even today this is the audience which makes KGF - CHAPTER 2, GADAR 2 or PUSHPA 2 - THE RULE what they are though obviously not to the level of SHOLAY.
A lot today is said that India needs more screens. But when the major films are SITAARE ZAMEEN PAR, KESARI and HOUSEFULL 5 types, then this village and small town audience is unlikely to go to the cinema even if they had one property closer to their homes. If the content is correct, screens will see a natural growth and that is what happened from 1960 till the early eighties. Today, there will be obstacles for screen growth but when something has a profit in it, then it happens and only way the exhibition can grow is with good films and plenty of them.
To put this these SHOLAY numbers into perspective is that today Rajkot has a population of 20 lakh and the value of those SHOLAY footfalls with todays population is 75 crore nett plus. Forget Rajkot, the only film has crossed this mark in Gujarat circuit till date and that is PUSHPA 2 - THE RULE. Obviously, things have changed with cinema and the stars not having the same craze in the last 2-3 decades as the golden days. But it probably has a little to do with the western type of content churned out by the industry as well and it becoming a very English industry.
Arvind Swami to play M G Ramachandran in Kangana Ranaut's Jayalalithaa biopic Thalaivi
7:55 AM
Mani Ratnam's Roja and Bombay star Arvind Swami to play Jayalalithaa's mentor MGR in Kangana Ranaut-led biopic, Thalaivi
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; October 4, 2019)
A retelling of J Jayalalithaa's life would be incomplete without a mention of the late actor-politician M G Ramachandran, or MGR, as he was popularly known. The former chief minister of Tamil Nadu had played an integral role in engineering Jayalalithaa's rise in politics. Now, it can be confirmed that the makers of Thalaivi — featuring Kangana Ranaut as the protagonist — have zeroed in on South actor Arvind Swami to step into the shoes of MGR. Last seen in Bollywood in Dear Dad (2016), Swami is best remembered for his roles in Mani Ratnam's Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995).Says a trade source, "MGR and Jayalalithaa starred in 28 box-office hits between 1965 and 1973. While the makers needed a worthy actor to do justice to his role, another criterion was that the artiste be fluent in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Arvind satisfied both criteria. The unit will kick off Thalaivi's shoot with Kangana from the first week of November in Mysore, and Arvind will join her on November 15."
In charting Jayalalithaa's journey from her teenage years, the A L Vijay-directed and Shailesh R Singh-produced venture will shed light on how MGR became her mentor as she forayed into politics through his party, AIADMK. During her reign as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, she had famously said, "One-third of my life was dominated by my mother, the other by MGR."
Confirming the development, producer Vishnu Induri says, "We wanted someone who has a pan-India appeal, and resembles MGR. Arvind Swami perfectly suited the role. His and Kangana's on-screen pair will be fresh. He took lot of time to sign on the dotted line because he wanted to be sure that he could devote enough time to prep for the role. He is a perfectionist."
43 Years Of Sholay: A look at the insane collections of this classic on Day 1
10:23 AM
Box Office India Trade Network
The greatest and biggest motion picture in the history of Indian cinema SHOLAY will hit 43 years tomorrow on Independence Day. SHOLAY probably has some competition now in the form of BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION considering what that film has done across India and after on television.
The difference is that BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION had to be dubbed in Hindi to become so huge in the Hindi markets but SHOLAY smashed records of local films in South India in its original Hindi language format which is just insane. Also the verdict is still not decided whether BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION will be relevant in 20 years or 40 years time.
By relevant we don't mean that some people talking about the film or writing about it because this is even done with films like JAANE BHI DO YAARO, PARINDA, SATYA, DIL CHAHTA HAI etc which were irrelevant when released for most of the country and ditto today. To be actually relevant you have to be watched and have a big audience and it remains to be seen what happens to BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION in the time to come. At the moment with more than a year gone after release its a rage with huge audiences whenever it comes on television but that may not be the case in 10, 20 or 40 years time on the formats available for viewing at that time.
SHOLAY released to an unprecedented response though that is not what is generally believed as at that time there were a couple of trade magazines and basically these people thought it was a bad film. So they spread the word that it opened poorly when the collections told a completely different story with all records smashed. It was a bit like saying that BAAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION has opened poorly last year but at that time they could actually get away with it because they actually had some takers in the industry and the media in general. In today's digital world this can never happen. It is hard to judge the opening compared to films today as numbers are today are far greater but there probably has not been many openings that have filled out every seat on day one (be it the August day ones in some circuits or October day ones in other places) barring maybe 50-60 seats. Even these missing ones will be more than compensated by so many centers going over capacity. So all in all the opening day would have easily been over 100% but it can only happen in India that a 110% or even 120% plus initial is called a poor opening.
The film opened on 40 cinemas in Mumbai and Ahmedabad on 15th August 1975 and barring the Drive In cinema in Ahmedabad, every cinema recorded housefull collections and both cities saw the highest collections ever. These cities had records by socials like DOST (1974) and ROTI KAPDA AUR MAKAAN (1974) and action films were not the best bets at the time but SHOLAY smashed records in Mumbai by a distance and Ahmedabad it got past ROTI KAPDA AUR MAKAAN despite releasing in one theater less.
A week later the film opened in East Punjab and in certain mass markets like East Punjab, UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Bihar there was a tradition for extra seats when a film was really accepted and got going. But with a Dharmendra starrer who was at an unimaginable level at the box office at that time the extra seats came out on release. The film did not officially beat the record of ROTI KAPDA AUR MAKAAN in East Punjab on day one as it was on less theaters but unofficially it would have as the distributor gave a higher first week share than ROTI KAPDA AUR MAKAAN despite lower collections as the over capacity theaters had probably more than covered the ground.
It was also released in Mysore and this was market was not going to be the strongest for an action dacait film as the ones before had not set this circuit on fire. But SHOLAY easily smashed the record collections of DHARMATMA and DEEWAAR both of which had collected Rs. 37,000 apprx in early 1975.
The first day figures of SHOLAY in circuits where it was released in August 1975 are as follows.
Mumbai (Released 15th August 1975)
Minerva - 7,470 (HF)
New Excelsior - 7,992 (HF)
Geeta - 5,285 (HF)
Ganesh - 4,828 (HF)
Deepak - 4,640 (HF)
Sharda - 4,970 (HF)
Badal - 6,207 (HF)
Aurora - 4,746 (HF)
Neptune - 6,252 (HF)
Kala Mandir - 7,524 (HF)
Milan - 4,873 (HF)
Chandan - 4,561 (HF)
Bahar - 4,628 (HF)
Oscar - 4,949 (HF)
Sangam - 4,798 (HF)
Hanjer - 5,730 (HF)
Samrat - 7,587 (HF)
New Era - 4,621 (HF)
Sona - 4,930 (HF)
Jaya - 4,347 (HF)
Akash - 3,999 (HF)
Kalpana - 5,483 (HF)
Basant - 5,564 (HF)
Sahakar - 5,251 (HF)
Shreyas - 6,635 (HF)
Odeon - 5,730 (HF)
Anand - 5,844 (HF)
Vandana - 5,690 (HF)
New Prakash - 3,906 (HF)
Sapna - 3,941 (HF)
Prabhat - 3,830 (HF)
Haseen - 5,662 (HF)
TOTAL - 1,73,473 (All 32 Cinemas Housefull). The film smashed the record of Dost (1974) which had collected 1.41 lakhs on day one
Ahmedabad (Released 15th August 1975)
Rupali - 7,121 (HF)
Anupam - 6,855 (HF)
Milan - 5,715 (HF)
Mohan - 4,673 (HF)
Priya - 5,072 (HF)
Sapna - 3,923 (HF)
Lalit Mahal - 3,487 (HF)
Drive In - 7,465
TOTAL - 44,311 (7 out of 8 theatres Housefull). The film beat the record of Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) which had collected 43,565.
East Punjab (Released 22nd August 1975)
Jyoti Jalandhar - 9,389 (Over Capacity)
Gagan Amritsar - 12,190 (Over Capacity)
Aarti Ludhiana - 10,978 (Over Capacity)
Swarn Jammu - 6,077 (Over Capacity)
Jagat Chandigarh - 5,596 (HF)
Malwa Patiala - 5,743 (Over Capacity)
Hari Ambala - 5,417 (Over Capacity)
Pushpa Hissar - 4,452 (Over Capacity)
KC Karnal - 4,987 (HF)
TOTAL - 64,829 (Second to Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974) but that film released on 12 theatres compared to the 9 of Sholay. That film had collected 71,987 on day one.)
Mysore (Released 22nd August 1975)
Kapali Bangalore - 8,856 (HF)
Apsara Bngalore - 6,453 (HF)
Nandi Bangalore - 4,714 (HF)
Nalanda Bangalore - 4,235 (HF)
Lavanya Bangalore - 3,765 (HF)
Galaxy Bangalore - 5,003 (HF)
Geethanjali Bangalore- 3,425
Sujatha Bangalore - 4,249 (HF)
Govardhan Bangalore - 3,089
Sangeet Bangalore - 1,662 (HF) Morning shows only
TOTAL - 45,451 (Beat the record of Dharmatma (1975) which had collected 37,564 on day one)
The film then opened in Delhi/UP, CP, CI, Rajasthan, Nizam/Andhra and East India on 3rd October 1975 to a similar bumper response breaking all opening day records in all these circuits. Again like East Punjab, many theatres in UP, Bihar and West Bengal went over capacity from first day.
Rajinikanth-Sonakshi's shoot in Mysore creates unprecedented frenzy
12:26 PM
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 14, 2014)
Sonakshi Sinha, who makes her debut in Tamil cinema opposite Rajinikanth in Lingaa, has been shooting in Mysore for the past few days with the star. And the combination of the Bollywood star with the Southern sensation has created unprecedented fan frenzy.
Mirror has it that 50 cops and 30 bouncers have been deployed to man the shoots of Lingaa, which are taking place in a government house, a local palace and a few outdoor locations.
A source told Mirror, "A few incidents of people trying to break the security cover have taken place in the last two days."
Several fans who gathered to get a glimpse of the stars were turned back and it is not just the fans who are not amused.
Rajinikanth, a veteran of several decades, is puzzled by the constant commotion.
Added the source, "He has been wondering why there is so much commotion on his shoot. He has made his fair share of enquiries and can do little but bear it with a grin."
Production Executive of Lingaa, Suresh Kumarswamy said: "Rajini Sir is a phenomenon and will remain so. The presence of Sonakshi has added to the chaos which we often witness whenever we shoot with Rajini sir. We are having a very tough time in Mysore. We didn't know Sonakshi is so popular."
Asked if they had so much security when they Rajinikanth shot Robot with Aishwarya and Kochadaiiyaan with Deepika, he replied, "No way. Not even half of this. Things were far more in control then."
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