Nothing succeeds like ‘100 crore’

A big-budget film with prominent stars is expected to take a big opening. Throw in some clever promotions, carpet-bombing the plexes and the high ticket prices, you are bound to notch up reasonably good collections. Pull out all the stops and maybe the film will join the 100 crore club. However, to conclude that everybody who watches a particular film also likes it, is oversimplifying the matter. Several times one is reminded that a particular film that went on to do some spectacular business was trashed by the critics. But, in this whole profit-and-loss game, nobody really cares.

A director who shall remain unnamed — he has directed a much acclaimed noir film — shocked himself when a mediocre film by him became a toast of tinseltown, because all that everybody was interested in were the collections. In an industry where nothing succeeds like success, creative flaws are hard to spot in a film that sports the gleaming Rs 100 crore badge.

Filmmaker Karan Johar was recently asked whether his film, Student of the Year, would make it to the 100 crore club and his answer was rather pertinent. He said, "I hope it is very successful, but I would like it that people remember the film for more than just making a lot of money."

Now if only more producers aspired to make films that survive the test of time for creative excellence and not merely the collections, the industry would truly be a profit-making entity and not a profiteering one.

The writer is Editor, 'Screen', priyanka.sinha@expressindia.com

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