Posts
Ashtavinayak’s Blue with its huge reported cost of production (COP) of Rs 85 crore was, of course, the high risk one.
Followed by Ajay Devgan’s All the Best, at Rs 40 crore, and Sohail Khan’s Main Aur Mrs Khanna, also at Rs 40 crore. Add print and publicity, which in layman’s terms means ‘hype’ , and the numbers just skyrocket by crores, specially Blue, which is believed to have spent close to Rs 15-18 crore in creating the buzz.
So what are the Friday soothsayers saying? First the plexes, which collectively contribute above 60% of all opening figures. The buzz spend on Blue looks like its worked with a reported 85% opening across screens. While Ajay Devgan has managed to tickle the funny bone of viewers and also got a decent opening of 50%, Salman and Kareena have managed to woo an average 35% as well.
“Since all three films are from different genres , we’ve given them an equal number of shows. Each film has 150 shows across our 76 screens,” says Devang Sampat, senior vicepresident , Cinemax, who agrees Blue’s has worked for now.
Yet, the sweat on the brow is for Blue, with close to Rs 100 crore invested can Dhillin Mehta, chief executive officer of Ashtavinayak Cine Vision recover his money?
For one, IDBI, his bankers who have lent the highest they have to any film (Rs 40 crore) have been given back their money. But the risks all lie with Mr Mehta. His two distributors-PVR who have picked up North and UP and Shemaroo which has picked up International have struck a deal of advance payment.
This means if Blue draws viewers, then whatever their losses they will be paid back by Mr Mehta unlike a minimum guarantee where the risks is shared. Mr Mehta though is not scared. He is, in fact, confident with the response of 1800 print and 2,250 screens cashing in big for him. “Cash flows are not a problem in Diwali and the response has surpassed our initial expectations. All morning shows on Friday have been running to full houses across the country,” says a confident Mehta who had just come out of a meeting with his distributors.
While Mr Mehta’s calculates half his net return from theatrical revenue and also sees a big chunk coming from satellite, the industry opinion is divided, with Blue not really being a satellite audience movie.
Adding all revenues, Mr Mehta’s supporters see his big budget gamble possibly break even with some Luck thrown in, while industry sees at least a Rs 20-25-crore loss.
Shemaroo Entertainment, which holds the international distribution rights for Blue, is making sure they go all out. “For such a big-budget film where the stakes are high you need to go all out which we are doing,” says Hiren Gada, director , Shemaroo.
The film saw a day and date release in over 20 countries and also a Tamil and Telugu release.
For Salman and Ajay meanwhile, the risk factor is less and the genres have been tried and tested. Sohail Khan has already netted in Rs 11 crore from music and home video rights of Main Aur Mrs Khanna. With a decent opening, looks like both All the Best and Main Aur Mrs Khanna will do a decent collection.
