| Think out of the box... office, peeps "Bet laga lo, Animal toh pakka ₹1000 crore kamayegi", I overheard my team member Alagesh, normally a man of few words, declare in a heated conversation over the phone. When his desk neighbour Anurag chimed in to say, "Aur tumhe kitna milega uss mein se?", I couldn't hold back my laughter. While banter like this certainly makes a regular work day entertaining, this one got me thinking: I, too, have found myself discussing — and worse, watching films on the basis of — their box office collections. Coming from someone who still gets nightmares about flunking her math exam, I can't even begin to tell you how hilarious this number obsession is for me. If only I'd been this interested in digits and finances otherwise, toh baat hi kya thi. I'd also be sipping an Iced Americano somewhere on Wall Street. The point I'm trying to make is quite simple yet intriguing. The conversation that should ideally be about creative, artistic and cinematic aspects of a movie, has been reduced to mere numbers now. The good old days when things like narrative, character arcs and writing dominated audience discussions, have been replaced by passionate but half-baked conversations over which movie smashed the box office in how many days and how much profit it made. But, this wasn't always the case. The numbers obsession started with Aamir Khan's 2008 thriller Ghajini, which was pathbreaking in many ways. The bald-crew-cut-and-tattoo-look was suddenly in, and Bollywood got its first "₹100 crore club" member. Bas, fir kya tha. As the numbers rose and the stakes got higher — with the likes of Jawan, Pathaan, Gadar 2 and Animal crossing ₹500 crore this year — it was all about the big bucks. And just that. Take for example Ahluwalia sahab from my walking club (yes, ek aur club). He decided to watch a recent actioner just because, in his words, "₹100 crore kamaye hain matlab dum hoga picture mein!" Only to abuse it the next day on our morning walk with words I would rather not write here. Which brings me back to the profound observation that Anurag inadvertently made in jest. As mere spectators, why are we so obsessed with collections? The numbers are there for the producers to study and analyse because it's their money at stake, humein ek bhi paisa nahin milne wala. There have been instances of makers fudging the numbers just to create hype among the audiences. Aur agar ek baar FOMO ho jaye, toh film toh dekhni hi padti hai na boss? That's how humans are programmed; I get it. But if the equation was as simple as 'higher the collection = better the films', aaj hum sab trade experts hotey. If this was indeed true, we would have missed gems like the recent Vikrant Massey-starrer 12th Fail. I got an earful from my daughter about having skipped catching it in the theatre. And now that I've watched it on OTT, I can safely say I deserved it. What a masterpiece! If this isn't enough reason to ditch the number obsession, just take a moment and think of some cult classics. Why do we still talk about a Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Veer Zaara, Chak De India! or Dil Chahta Hai? We never say, "Iss movie ne itna kamaya tha". We remember these fondly because they were genuinely brilliant pieces of work. At the end of the day, films are made for our consumption and entertainment. Films earn because we watch them, we aren't supposed to decide what to watch based on how much it earns. Audience is king, peeps. Don't forget your power. Don't be Mr Ahluwalia. |
