With OMG and EV, is word of mouth back in fashion?

The way 2012 has progressed, not just has it thrown some unimaginable statistics as far as big grossers are concerned (it is a record year for films that entered the 100 crore club), it has also brought back the old fashioned trend of word of mouth doing the trick. This has been for the films that didn't really take a flattering opening and still went on to be good successes. Ironically, and very interestingly, one common factor that has remained consistent about each of these films is the fact that none of them had a saleable commercial leading actor to boast of and did well entirely 'apne dum par'.

Pick up any film from the Paan Singh Tomar to English Vinglish, the verdict is out - 'A good film has found it's way amongst the audience, even if a little late'. Its business may have ranged from coverage to superhit but the makers don't have any reason to complain. This also means that if a film has been left ignored and given a cold shoulder by the audience, it has been deservedly so. A film was all there to be grabbed, if the audience didn't catch it then that was for a reason.

The indications were pretty much there, though on a much lesser scale, when Riteish Deshmukh-Genelia D'Souza starrer Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya hung on reasonably well to find an average status for it at the least at the very start of the year. It has to be noted that as a solo lead, Riteish had scored for years and after a tepid beginning, his musical romcom managed to find an audience in the long run. Ditto for Paan Singh Tomar which is the classic case of even those not being ultra confident who had invested in it. Irrfan Khan and Tigmanshu Dhulia took it upon them to keep the flag flying high which means there was yet another success added to Bollywood report card.

The epitome of word of mouth resulting in an exceptional affair was Kahaani which was a hero-less, song-less film with pregnant leading lady and a director with two flops behind him. The Vidya Balan starrer didn't take a start but audience were left mighty impressed. The film turned out to be a superhit while enjoying the best word of mouth of the year so far. Close on its heels was Vicky Donor which didn't have any 'peg' to it whatsoever, as far as it's promotion was concerned. Well, just imagine trying to sell a film about sperm donation, featuring a newcomer and directed by a filmmaker who wasn't following Bollywood diktat!

As for Barfi! , it did take the best opening when compare to all aforementioned films but post it's release even Priyanka Chopra went on record to state that no one had much faith about it's box office prospects. Even director Anurag Basu was almost apologetic when questioned about the 100 crore club and is perhaps equally puzzled today with the film actually covering the distance.

Similarly who would have ever thought that a film starring Paresh Rawal as the central lead would comfortably march towards the 50 crore mark and that too with a director (Umesh Shukla) with whom the earlier pairing (Maharathi) was a resounding flop? Well, Akshay Kumar thought so and though he must not have been too pleased by the film's opening day collections, thumbs up by audience soon after was good enough to make the team smile again.

Today, I am sure that Gauri Shinde, Sridevi and Balki are going through similar emotions, what with their English Vinglish finding good patronage from the target audience which wasn't as forthcoming on the opening day and was perhaps waiting for their peers to announce verdict. Well, now that the verdict is out and the film is finding huge growth in word of mouth, it has only added on the beautiful trend that has started developing this year.

In the times when bets are being placed on blockbusters material films crossing 100 crores in 4, 5 or 6 days, it is always heartening when deserving films (made at 25% of the budget that biggies carry) make half of that in 4, 5 or 6 weeks. It only implies loud and clear that even in the times of multiplexes and quick bucks, if a film is good enough, audience won't let it disappear in a jiffy.

This leads me to a question - Which of the upcoming medium/small films this year (Chittagong, Makkhi, Bhoot Returns, 1920 - Evil Returns, Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana) do you think would be the ones that would benefit from word of mouth instead of just a terrific opening?

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/features/type/view/id/4054

Good to see small films going on to do well based on WOM. I am sick of all the carefully scripted 'success' of the big production houses. Thats why when a small film like Vicky Donor or EV becomes a hit its heart warming.

Not just WOM, I think half of the credit should go to the Indian audiences too this year, that they have tried to watch something different and liked it. 2012 has really surprised me.

^^^True! The audience appetite for films has been unsatiable this year! I wonder why despite the poor economy and inflation. But its good for small films. Who knew that in the year 2011 in which we saw some of the worst movies content-wise(but big BO earnings-wise) people sitting in the background were making some great movies which released this year.

WOM never went out of fashion...even films like RR, housefull etc had a section of audience who gave it good reviews which is why they didnt crash like say...tees maar khan which was hated by every living soul on the planet...😆...

I think more than anything, good scripts, good performance, good movies in general are back in fashion.

When I watch a movie, and someone asks me 'how was it?" and I answer "was good" or "all right", that's WoM. Every film gets WoM, whether positive or negative. These people string 5 examples together, and then make an article without any sense.

I feel that a "good film" wave had started before 2012 - they were being made here and there consistently over the last 6 years or so. Just last year, there was No one killed Jessica, Dhobi Ghaat, I Am, Chalo Dilli, 7 Khoon Maaf, Yeh Saali Zindagi, Stanley ka Dabba, Shaitan, Delhi Belly, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster and The Dirty Picture, all of which tried to do something different, either with content or casting.

The difference this year is that more and more such films have started getting everything right - all the casting, including the minor parts, the music and so on. This is partly because their budgets too have improved, and so have their options over time, in terms of the actors and crew available to them. Other options of distribution etc. have improved too. For e.g., I was confident that I would have to see English Vinglish online or on a DVD as I live abroad, but it actually released here, in a small town. And as they get everything right, they attract more audiences and so more of these films have started becoming successful. All credit to those who work on them - they fully deserve it. If these films had not been as engaging, the audience would not have been as engaged.

OMG Oh My God! Gets a Amul Hoarding!

Originally posted by: dkdc

When I watch a movie, and someone asks me 'how was it?" and I answer "was good" or "all right", that's WoM. Every film gets WoM, whether positive or negative. These people string 5 examples together, and then make an article without any sense.

I feel that a "good film" wave had started before 2012 - they were being made here and there consistently over the last 6 years or so. Just last year, there was No one killed Jessica, Dhobi Ghaat, I Am, Chalo Dilli, 7 Khoon Maaf, Yeh Saali Zindagi, Stanley ka Dabba, Shaitan, Delhi Belly, That Girl in Yellow Boots, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster and The Dirty Picture, all of which tried to do something different, either with content or casting.

The difference this year is that more and more such films have started getting everything right - all the casting, including the minor parts, the music and so on. This is partly because their budgets too have improved, and so have their options over time, in terms of the actors and crew available to them. Other options of distribution etc. have improved too. For e.g., I was confident that I would have to see English Vinglish online or on a DVD as I live abroad, but it actually released here, in a small town. And as they get everything right, they attract more audiences and so more of these films have started becoming successful. All credit to those who work on them - they fully deserve it. If these films had not been as engaging, the audience would not have been as engaged.