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Q. Why are the number of screens in India so less? When a movie like Baahubali has 5000 screen release in China, what is stopping us? With more number of screens these clashes will be almost redundant.. Please give ur opinion – Gaurav Sharma

A. There is absolutely no scarcity of screens in India. The country has more than 10000 screens (which includes muliplexes and single-screen theatres). But ‘screens’ is a highly misunderstood term among visitors of our site, those who love discussing numbers and the mainstream media too doesn’t understand trade. Recently, a journalist was quoted as saying ‘Queen’, which released on 800 screens (first week) and collected 60 crore, would have collected 250 crore if it released on 3000 screens. Another question that is often asked is why Akshay Kumar films don’t get 4000 plus screens, which they say, would help him get record opening at the box office. Such comments are silly. When a distributor distributes a film, he has to first ascertain if the film in question has a market (audience) where he releases it. Giving ‘Queen’ a 3000 screen release would mean a wide single-screen release in circuits where the film won’t be watched by anyone, which also means the print / release cost is more than what the film will earn on that screen (or theatre). At the same time, when the film features Salman Khan in the lead, he has an audience in the interiors of India, even at a small village in UP or Bihar, where another actor’s film might not work. That’s exactly why the Khans get the highest number of screens, followed by Hrithik Roshan.

Talking about clashes, the major impact of a clash is at multiplexes. To give you an example, if a solo release gets 15 shows at a multiplex with 3 screens, the number of shows will get divided when there are two major films. In case of Bajirao vs Dilwale clash, it could mean 9 shows for Dilwale and 6 for Bajirao. Not just that, the audience will be divided too. Not many people can afford to watch two films at a multiplex in a single week. Tickets are way too expensive and the audience is extremely selective. At single-screens, it’s about getting the major single-screens in prime locations.  When Son Of Sardar released with Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Ajay Devgn booked theatres that were meant for screening regional films (south). But that move by Ajay worked, because Son Of Sardar had mass-appeal, something that Bajirao Mastani lacks. So just by increasing the number of screens, clashes can never ensure a fair release for two big films. And the 5000 screen count of Baahubali in China is highly exaggerated!

Q. 10 films you are looking forward in 2016 – Hemal

A. Dangal, Mohenjo Daro, Raees, Sultan, Shivaay, Fan, Dhoni biopic, Baadshaho, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Airlift.

Q. How are Raees, Mohenjadaro and Dangal shaping up? Has Rahul Dholakia shot scenes featuring SRK and Nawazuddin Siddique? When will the Ludhiana schedule of Dangal come to end and by that time how much would the film will be completed? Is there any shooting schedule left for Mohenjadaro or the post production has started? – Aashish Thapar

A. Raees has shaped up very well, is what we have heard. It’ll be a commercial entertainer, with top-notch performances. Yes, scenes featuring SRK and Nawazuddin have been filmed.  The Dangal schedule will be wrapped up in December. Aamir will then lose all the weight that he has gained, before starting the next schedule in June (tentative). Final schedule will be wrapped up by July next year. And finally, Mohenjo Daro is still being shot. They will wrap up the shoot late this year or early 2016. After which the Post-Production will begin. But like quite a few movies today, the post-production work is being done simultaneously. Scale-wise, Mohenjo Daro will be the biggest film of 2016.

Q. There is news that Tiger Shroff’s ‘A Flying Jatt’ is being made on a budget of Rs 100 crore. Is it true? And if it is true then would it not be risky for producers because Tiger is a newcomer? – Amit Sundarani

A. Don’t believe everything that you read on gossip sites / Bollywood news website. A lot of it is PR machinery which is hard at work to generate interest around the film. If ‘A Flying Jatt’ does indeed have a budget of 100 crore as its ‘cost of production’, then the final costs including marketing would shoot up to 125 crore range, which is impossible to recover for a film starring Tiger Shroff. Irrespective of the scale that the film will be made on, India is still a star-dominated industry. If not for stars, a big budget film needs a popular franchise to sell.

Q. Would it be a good decision by the producers of Bajirao Mastani, if they release their film on 25th December? – Neeraj

A. If Bajirao Mastani releases on 25th December, it would either prove to be a masterstroke or backfire big time. Masterstroke, because there are no holidays between 18th to 24th December. So if Dilwale gets a mixed / poor response to its content, then Bajirao Mastani will get a open holiday release. It could backfire too, because there is nothing quite as powerful as a film carrying good word-of-mouth. Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobaara crumbled under the Chennai Express wave. Drishyam was affected by Bajirao Mastani even though it released two weeks later. We think a final decision will be made by Eros and Sanjay Leela Bhansali after the trailer launch of Dilwale next week.

Q. Among all newcomers who according to you has the potential to make it big? – Challa

A. Varun Dhawan has taken giant strides in the last couple of years and Dilwale will push him to the big league. If he maintains his consistency and ensures that the quality of his next few films is upto the mark, he will soon be competing with the big stars in the industry. The other actor who has tremendous potential is Ranveer Singh. He has acting talent, screen presence and mass-appeal to ensure footfalls both at single-screens and multiplexes. Ranbir doesn’t fall under the ‘newcomer’ category any more, so our pick would be Varun and Ranveer.

Q. When I think back 90s and early 2000s, they were many good and great rom-coms and we have seen many rom-coms that became Highest Grosser of the Year. But now it seems that Romantic Comedies are dying. High budget movies are not doing well. There is no creativity and originality. Same formulaic script material recycled over and over. Don’t you think people are fed up with the same crap. Do you think the Studios/banners killed this genre? Or should audience be blamed for losing interest with this genre? – Rami Mohammad

A. Irrespective of the genre, audiences have been rejecting bad films and coming out in big numbers to watch good films. Even though comedy is no longer considered to be a genre that is popular with the masses, if Rajkumar Hirani makes one, people will come to watch. Welcome Back too did reasonably well. If Imtiaz Ali releases his rom-com Jab We Met today, it’ll perform better than it did 2007. In India, most films do not entirely belong to a particular genre. More often that not, it’s a mixture of comedy, action and romance. So if a film is entertaining and appealing enough, it’ll work. Due to the cost of ticket prices at metro cities, the audience in today’s time has become more intelligent and choosy. Apart from the star cast and trailer, they also look at the last few films from a banner. The box office performance of Shaandaar could impact the business of Dharma’s next Kapoor and Sons. Similarly, movies from Phantom Films, Fox Star Studios, YRF and others have been rejected until they work on producing better films. Content and not the genre is the key in today’s expensive world.

Q. Was the year 2015 a successful year for Akshay Kumar? – Shubham

A. Not really. 2015 looked very promising with Baby (Neeraj Pandey), Gabbar Is Back (mass-entertainer), Brothers (big budget holiday release) and Singh Is Bling (Singh Is Kinng was one of Akshay’s biggest films). Almost all films got advantage of additional holidays. But at the end of the year though, his biggest film (Brothers) was his biggest disappointment at the box office. Baby and Singh Is Bling also got a holiday release, both performed reasonably well, but were dependent on overseas business and various rights to just about recover costs. 3 films broke even, one film lost a lot of money. Exhibitors will be happy because Akshay ensured plenty of footfalls in theatres because of his 4 releases, distributors / producers won’t be. Overall, it’s been a poor year for Akshay Kumar.

Q. Indicine, I am sharing with you my thought about Dilwale – BM clash.. I strongly believe (as a die-hard Fan of SRK) Dilwale will obviously beat BM with a very big margin on 1st day, 1st weekend, Lifetime collection and in all aspects Dilwale will be the winner… the main problem is to cross the bar of Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PK.. I think if Dilwale will release on 25th of December on Christmas day, the opening will be Huge in India and Worldwide… then all the positive business day in front of 25th, 31st, 1st (Jan) and so on.. so, lifetime will be good too… In the meantime in 7 days, BM will almost close business (most films doing it now). But to shift to 25th from 18th Dec, Dilwale producer, director, specially SRK sir and Rohit Shetty will think about ego problem to shift but frankly speaking sometimes it needs to step 1 step back to attack more hardly.. What is your opinion? MZR Sohag

A. Both want 18th, because it’ll give them that extended 2 open weeks at the box office, much like Dhoom 3 and PK. It has definitely become a clash of egos more than anything else. Bhansali and his team are adamant that they announced their film first, which is why it’s the other film that has to move. SRK cannot move. Dilwale is the bigger film, if they do shift their date, it’ll be perceived to be accepting defeat. The best thing to do, if both want to avert a clash, is to arrange a meeting between all the major players involved and sort things out. At the end of the day, it all comes down to what the trade wants. And what the trade wants is a big film like Dilwale to release during Christmas, because that would ensure highest number of footfalls.  Bajirao Mastani, even if it gets a solo release, will struggle to cross the 15-20 crore mark on 18th December, but Dilwale would be looking at a much bigger total. That’s exactly why big films get all the big dates these days and the trade is batting for Dilwale to get a solo release during Christmas. SRK, indirectly / behind the scenes, is going all out too, much like he did during August 2013 when Chennai Express and OUATIMD were about to clash. Just that, this time around, it’s a strongman like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and not Ekta Kapoor.

Q. Upcoming movies of Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt under Dharma Productions? – Amir

A. Sidharth Malhotra has one film with Alia Bhatt, Kapoor and Sons, releases on March 18 next year. It’ll be produced by Dharma Productions. Alia has four films with Dharma – Kapoor and Sons, Untitled Gauri Shinde film also starring SRK, Ayan Mukerji’s Superhero film with Ranbir Kapoor, Karan Malhotra’s Shhuddhi with Varun Dhawan.

That ends our Question and Answer section. Apologies to all those who couldn’t visit this page because of the server migration. More questions will be answered during the weekdays. Thank you for reading!