After days, the Indian cinema is all smiles again. “The Kerala Story”, produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah and directed by Sudipto Sen, has set the cash registers ringing. Despite several tweets of indignation, official bans by 2 states [Tamil Nadu and Bengal] and the venom spewed by several critics, the film has earned a whopping 35 crores against a modest budget, and the film might cross the 50-crore mark by Tuesday itself, if the Monday reports are cent per cent correct.
However, there is a distinct pattern, which has repeated again, but unnoticed by even the best of analysts.
Also read: The Kerala Story review: YOU JUST CANNOT IGNORE THIS
Small Packet, Big Returns
March 2022 saw the release of “The Kashmir Files”. Despite a limited screen presence, and almost zero PR, the film picked up on the basis of word of mouth, and grossed an unbelievable 350 crore rupees worldwide. But not many were ready to accept this achievement, terming it as a “mere flash in the pan”.
The so-called analysts weren’t completely wrong either. Films based on the same ideology either tanked badly like “Indu Sarkar” and “The Accidental Prime Minister”, to name a few, or struggled hard to make it like “The Tashkent Files” did.
However, with the success of “The Kerala Story” on identical lines, one can notice a distinct pattern. Like “The Kashmir Files”, the film had negligible promotion, few screens and almost no support base. Even then, this film clocked a significant 35 crores, way more than its official budget, in the opening weekend itself. Going by recent reports, the Monday collections might be way more than the opening day collection, a rare feat for a Hindi film in 2023.
What does this mean? If the story is good, and the director trusts his / her product well, even the best of stories can be shown in a budget of not more than 20 crores. Take “Kartikeya 2” for instance. With the graphics, and the screenplay involved, who would believe that the budget of this film was a mere 15 crores, and its lifetime collection almost touched the coveted mark of 120 crores.
Also read: Dear mothers and fathers, watch “The Kerala Story” with your daughters immediately
Choose actors, not stars
There is one more common factor between “The Kashmir Files” and “The Kerala Story”. Both the films were driven more by their content, and less by the actors involved. Both films worked, because the actors involved understood the gist of the plot, and did justice with the roles given to them.
It doesn’t indicate any ill will for star power. A bigger star could’ve enhanced the dynamics of this film all the better, though it is not always the case. Who knows it better than Dr. Chandra Prakash Dwivedi. The man behind a series like ‘Chanakya’ gave it his all to give his dream project of Prithviraj Chauhan the silver screen it deserved. However, the moment he chose Akshay Kumar as the lead, things changed for the worse.
Also read: Tharoor and his ilk must be congratulated for promoting The Kerala Story without a fee
None is bigger than the audience
However, the most important conclusion from this entire episode is that “The Kerala Story” proved one thing right: If your aim is crystal clear, and your intentions noble, no power on earth can stop your film from becoming a massive success.
Don’t believe us, then have a look at “Uri: The Surgical Strike”. Power packed dialogues, impressive cinematography, brilliant VFX, the war drama directed by debutante Aditya Dhar had it all, in just a modest sum of Rs. 25 crores. Compare that with its lifetime collection of almost Rs. 350 crores. The message is loud and clear: CONTENT IS THE KING!
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