What’s the maximum number of times you can watch your favorite movie? Is it 10, is it 100, or are you someone who doesn’t want to ruin the experience by over-watching? DDLJ stayed in a theatre for over 25 years, and people still turned up to watch the film? How is that possible, don’t they get bored, one would wonder? But then, boring is not the word we use for our favorite movies.
Gangs of Wasseypur, Tumbbad, and Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein have now been added to the list of movies re-releasing in Indian theatres. It’s not like Indian cinema is not producing new films, but we’re simply not hearing about them. Well, not as much.
Often, great movies go unnoticed at the box office. This is especially true for the Hindi cinema where star power continues to dominate a film’s business than the story itself. We’d accept Bollywood’s familiar masala template featuring Salman Khan rather than experimenting with stories that haven’t been marketed enough, and that cast actors who’re not mainstream. That’s just how it works. But then good stories find their audience and then some of these unheard films go on to become cult classics people can’t stop talking about. So, when any of these films are re-released, their audience consciously makes the effort to go to the theatre, watch the film and experience the magic they had missed earlier.
You see, there’s excitement and value that these old films hold which is significantly higher than newer releases. After all these years they are still able to bring both old and new audiences to the theatres. Take Laila Majnu, for one. The film tanked at the box office in 2018 collecting about ₹2.18 crore in its lifetime. Then, it went on to become a cult classic. Six years later, it earned about ₹2.6 crore in the first four days of the re-release itself.
Jab We Met was also re-released during Valentine’s Day. Despite its screening for a limited number of days, the film collected over ₹1.5 crores. Rockstar was considered a mild hit during its initial run. It was re-released twelve years later and for some time our Insta feeds were only full of people heading to watch Imtiaz Ali’s classic in cinema halls, because who would dare to miss this masterpiece? Some films get a second life with re-release and rock the box office, something they couldn’t do earlier.
Gangs of Wasseypur film series was declared a flop when it was released in 2012. Now, it’s re-releasing and we know its dedicated fan base is not going to miss watching it in theatres. It is too important to miss, something we cannot say for the newer films.
There has been a significant loss of faith in the new projects. This doesn’t mean star-led films don’t draw people to the theatres anymore. They do, but they don’t assure quality anymore, do they? We know the film business was severely impacted during the pandemic and the industry is still reeling with its after-effects. But, it was also during this period, our quality of content consumption evolved. A lot of us simply watched better content.
With more time to spare, we consumed good movies and explored International cinema, India’s regional cinema. Some OTT series also brought us great stories, one where the attention to detail in storytelling was impressive. So when, after watching a certain kind of quality content, we came out of the pandemic, we were disillusioned by the Hindi cinema, because, let’s face it, quality has never been a priority for the Bollywood industry.
This brings me to a point that, perhaps, we’re not making great movies anymore. A character template worked in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. So, we re-awakened Rocky Randhawa through Akhil Chadha in Bad Newz without caring for the plot. And in cases where there are good stories, we don’t talk about them until they release on OTT platforms. Take a movie like Laapataa Ladies, for instance. Either those films did not have a better marketing budget or no one cares about their actors. So, people don’t want to spend until they’re assured something.
There’s another thing. Watching films in theatres is an experience. Watching Endgame in the theatre and watching it at home are two completely different ordeals. It’s an immersive experience in the theatre, there are like-minded people, and the adrenaline is higher. When Iron Man passed, we shared a collective agony; when Captain America held Thor’s hammer, we were collectively thrilled. You see, we were so immersed in that universe that we forgot the sense of our physical realities, our personal lives at the time. That’s what good cinema can offer. So, watching a movie that we already love is an opportunity one simply can’t miss.
From a distributor’s point of view, re-releasing old films could be for profit. From a filmmaker’s point of view, it could be for fans. But one thing is for sure, it shows filmmakers of today are doing something wrong now. Perhaps, we’re depending on stars too much, perhaps we’re forgetting something very core – telling good stories.