BOI's initial article against Gully Boy

There have been these European directors articles which are simply loved in the industry There is the section which is for the likes of Zoya Akhtar, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap and their cinema and this contingent which is trying its best to put the last nails into Hindi cinema who these articles wont hold appeal . Then there is the other side which believes in Hindi cinema, in the canvas, in the story telling, in the emotion and from this side the messages come for more euro articles.

Its a tug of war between two sides of the industry, actually its not a tug of war as the cream belongs to Hindi cinema but to make it a bit equal the problem is the media is on the side of the European contingent so they tend to highlight the achievements when there is no achievement. Its called the European contingent not because they come from Europe or something but because the cinema in terms of story telling, screenplay, pacing and even lighting sometimes is influenced by the art circuit in Europe and then dished out to our desi audience. It generally flops or remains the five city cinema which can bring some success, Barfi! till date is the which broke the hackles somewhat. There is no reach of this cinema whatsoever even when some numbers come.

This contingent is shifting to digital and bringing these C grade web series to compete with the real stuff from other places in the world. Even here the fact which will not be liked by them is that if the big streaming giants are getting some subscriptions in India its for the American and foreign content not the C grade rubbish dished out by this lot. These guys may not have a clue but the big streaming giants have some and thats why its 90 crore acquisition for the likes of Race 3 which is not even original content and just 10-20% or even less outlay of that for a original web series provided by these so called content providers despite it having far more viewing hours than a Race 3 . In another words its about the Khans and Akshay Kumar with the likes of Amazon and Netflix as well and hopefully these guys will keep away from the Euro contigent.

This should have actually been the last article on this European stuff and then they could all dish out their mediocre content on digital until someone who knows what they are doing and delivers something edgy yet desi instead of relying on sex and violence like this European contingent.

But this story has a little longer to run as Gully Boy has done a little better than expected (this is as per our expectations, though the European lot may have actually expected it to be much bigger as its a so called classic (SO CALLED is the word). The business of the film may just be enough for the director Zoya Akhtar to get some stars in the next film and it may also give hope to the likes Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Kashyap, Anurag Basu, Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibaker Banerjee, etc that they can also get lucky if some stars are willing. Honestly speaking our expectations were of 80-85 lakh footfalls and this circus to end and Hindi cinema getting bigger again and more progressive rather than this small backward thinking cinema lot who probably want to see the NFDC days gain. The idea is at least attempt the sort of cinema which can get 4 or 5 or even 6 crore people into theatres when there are stars. Now this film may top 1 crore footfalls which is 25% more than our expectations thanks to Mumbai and Pune liking the the film but this number is just about scrapping into that pass territory.

Actually its not about us seeing it as a pass but do the stars who are willing to work with these people see it as a pass. The margins are tight because next time if its just a bit less it becomes a big downer. An Imtiaz Ali shockingly got a Shahrukh Khan once and everyone knows what happened. Also when an actor takes the film the fear is the box office because its the unknown but with these Euro lot these is a little safety net as actors knows media is with this lot so even if the box office is not good then the media will still give the perception. Eventually its a game of perception and when a film does not do well and the perception is given of a success then the actor will take that. In a big commercial masala film these is no safety net because this same media will be out against it from day one and if it fails at the box office also then its a huge setback for the actor.

So if the actors come on board there will be more fun to come for us with this cinema which is in the national language but is unbelievably regional. No wonder that there is always talk that the South industries are bigger than Hindi cinema as there content despite being regional is more universal than ours. The true fact is we are bigger than the Tamil and Telugu industries combined but a lot of our major films are niche. This cinema is fine without the stars as 80-100 crore nett mark works but with stars you need far bigger numbers as 100 or 125 crore nett means nothing today.

The messages even come that the director of Gully Boy cant be put in the same bracket of the others as the film is a HIT but that is not the point the cinema has not changed and it has still been rejected in most of India. The last time this cinema past the test was Barfi! which was seven years back and Gully Boy will not even be as big as Barfi! That film got 1.2 crore footfalls in 2012 and this wont happen for Gully Boy so if Barfi! changed nothing why would a lesser Gully Boy change anything. Also then there is this word that this cinema should be encouraged but the fact there is that it is encoraged across all media so if one Box Office India spells out the facts once in a while does not lessen that media encouragement.

The fact remains its a five city film (Mumbai,Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata). Hyderabad is also good but may not last too long. If this scenario changes then its a different story but it has to be seen first to be believed. In 70's there was a major distribution concern in Chandni Chowk, Delhi who distributed many films in the circuit. Now what used to happen then was the film would be given for a 10 year period to monetize. Some went with the flow but this guy always wanted to know if he has the lottery ticket which it would be if it can be monetized for the whole ten years. How do you know a film can last for ten years, only one way and that is appreciation. It was a staggered release then and it would take around 9 months to a year to monetize the whole circuit and this guy had a map of his circuit in the office and used the blacken the areas where the appreciation come according to the figures. Most of the films would start making money in 6 months but this guy would not be too happy if Eastern UP was not covered in black. Due to previous experiences he probably worked out that this area has to appreciate as only then it will be that lottery ticket and work in repeat runs.

So to cut a long story short, today there is not that sort of issue as the money is there before release through digital and television. But appreciation still works in the same way as far as audience is concerned. If we get the map of India and darken where the appreciation for Gully Boy is then we will get 5 little dark spots which actually you may need glasses to see and in no way is this appreciation. In fact we will and try to put up the appreciation map of Gully Boy and compare it to say a Baaghi 2 and see the difference between real and fake appreciation.

This whole contingent with their media friends is becoming a comedy show. The Gully Boy show started in Berlin last week when reports started to come that about this film Gully Boy getting applause and Germany has gone bonkers. It must have been the cast and crew applauding with their media friends as the main distributor in Germany for Hindi films has not even taken the film yet so if the film did get a release it would be minimal release. So straight away you know the fake bandwagon has started because the German market should have been lining up after the craze it caused in Berlin. Its like patting yourselves on the back and saying yeah its a Sholay when the real world actually does not care. Then on Friday the media and Mumbai trade went crazy again as if a Bahubali, Gadar or Sholay had come and insane lifetime numbers were being talked about. Its fair enough that this euro lot is mainly kept around by the support of the media but to call mediocre film (for most of the audience) a classic is the pits and as low as it gets. Call it decent or good at best if you really have to or best is say as it is because the public cannot be fooled for too long.

The praise comes because who is behind the film and not for the content. Its not the first time its been seen and wont be the last. This Euro lot get the praise though box office collections and appreciation has never come and is never likely to come. If the praise does not come from the media they are simply irrelevant beacsue who else is going talk about their films. If its about the content then Uri - The Surgical Strike released a few weeks back which is a good film and far better than Gully Boy and if reviewers only really care for urban cinema the Uri - The Surgical strike is that and a little more as it has something for other as well but it never got this sort of praise. It deserved to get least double or even treble the praise of a Gully Boy.

Then there is Manikarnika which is also a little better than Gully Boy in terms of appreciation and there the same industry European contingent which is rooting for the mediocre Gully Boy had no good words for that film. Even if say Manikarnika is as bad as Gully Boy at least Manikarnika was a worthwhile film about a historical character who died for the country so its worth some good words just on that account. Then on numbers a Kangana Ranaut solo doing 40-45 crore nett less than a Ranveer Singh / Alia Bhatt starrer is no doubt a win for the former and by a distance. We will not even get into comparing the Uri - The Surgical Strike numbers.

Then finally there is thing going around Ranveer Singh is the new superstar in town after this film Gully Boy. Now this is probably PR but one thing is sure that you dont even become a star with a Gully Boy let alone a superstar. The Khans may be bleeding a little form last year but remain the biggest stars. One point to remember is the reigning superstar did 166 crore nett on a fully rejected film like Race 3 and here you are looking to just about beat Badhaai Ho with a SO CALLED classic. That also in terms of collections and not the number of people seeing the film. An Alia Bhatt solo starrer Raazi gets 1 crore people into the theatres and the superstar of the day paired with Alia Bhatt may just add 5-10 lakh more people. God save this industry with a superstar like this but here the superstar can correctly stick the blame on the director for a huge non achievement like this and not getting th amount of people to watch a superstar film.

So on the final note. Gully Boy in real terms will just about survive which means the disease in Hindi cinema will still exist but nothing like say five years back. Now from here its down to the young stars is that do we improve further in the next five years and maybe compete with a Bahubali or do we go back in hope that the five city cinema will turn into all India cinema. Hopefully its the former but with this industry you can never tell.

A little side note is thank god for small mercies that Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga completely tanked and did not even become a five city film as the media was ready to call this a mini classic but here the reason was a little different and not about who has directed the film.