Today, we know Russia for the geopolitical crisis that has unfolded in the Eastern Europe region. However, the landmass has a history that holds the potential to give civilisational lessons to the ever-evolving world, the Russian Revolution.
The Russian Revolution took place in two parts. The first that happened during the early part of the year (February, March) overthrew the imperial government. The second but major phase took place when winter had already arrived. Those were the chilly nights of October when the Bolshevik Party seized power, inaugurating the Soviet Regime. Hence, termed the October Revolution. It gobbled up the imperial regime. In the same manner, it seems that this year, specifically the month of October will mark the endgame for Bollywood.
The Number Game and its connection with the festive season
Tell me the names of some big superstars for whose movies the audience awaits? The answer would be the Khans: Salman, Shahrukh and Aamir, Akshay Kumar or Ajay Devgn. Now, the next question. When do these actors who themselves guarantee good box office collections release their films?
Well, all of them seem to have festivals of their own for their upcoming releases. Like Salman Khan books Eid for the release of Tiger Zinda Hai or Shahrukh and Aamir decide to release their films on the occasion of Diwali or Christmas. Many of us might have not noticed this, but there lies an underlying reason for the same.
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The festive season holds extreme importance for the economic sector as consumers are expected to spend much of their earnings on non-durables such as clothing or for entertainment purposes along with friends and families. Films are also considered to be a major part of the entertainment and recreational sector, thus festivals become a guarantee to bring in numbers. However, in the post-Covid scenario, it seems to have changed.
The changed scenario
Earlier this time of the year that was looked upon as the best time for theatrical releases, that means October to December, is now reaping no benefits. If we begin with Diwali, two big releases with the biggest stars of Bollywood, Aamir’s Lal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Rakshabandhan failed to gain audiences’ attention and garner any reasonable sum for the producers.
The scenario in the month of October, during which several big-budget movies were scheduled seems to be no different. October was deemed to be as the revival month for Bollywood, after it had sunk a bit deeper with the embarrassing failure of Laal Singh Chaddha.
Movies that have been or will be released in the month are Maja Ma, Good Bye- a comedy-drama film chronicling an Indian family who recently faced a tragic loss, Doctor G- another Aayushmaan Khurrana starrer aimed at social messaging, Code Name Tirangaa- imbibed with patriotism an action-packed spy thriller, Double XL, Thank God- Ajay Devgn starrer comedy where Devgn plays Chitragupta, Ram Setu- Akshay Kumar starrer national treasure esque action-adventure film.
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Till now, more than half of the aforementioned films have been released, however, altogether they have not been able to clock Rs 100 crores, clearly signaling that none are going to be even a hit, commercially. Doctor G was released on Friday and all that it could collect on Day 1 is 3.50 cr. Another big face loaded Goodbye, that starred Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandana opened rather slower at 0.93 cr and in a week has just managed to collect 5.61 cr. Code Name Tiranga had an even poorer opening than Kangana Ranaut’s Dhakad, at 0.15 cr.
The sinking Bollywood
While many arrogant Bollywood stars may have made you believe that it’s the unnecessary boycott campaign that has resulted in the failure of movies. The actual fact is that the poor content quality has not been able to draw audiences into the theatres. And the argument to sustain the claim is the performance of recent South Indian movies like PS 1 and Kantara.
PS1 too faced the boycott call, but it stands tall at a collection of 200 cr in the home state Tamil Nadu itself and is expected to close at 600 cr at the box office. The south Indian film Kantara whose hindi version was released just this weekend has registered a growth of 150% on the second day itself.
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