The media, critics, trade analysts, filmmakers, audience & KANK

Hello everyone,

I am too obsessed with anything related to KANK nowadays hence a second post on the same movie in two days. KJ fan, please bear with me

Various News Channels aired the first day first day reactions of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna by the cinegoers that ranged from “Pathetic”, “boring”, “flop” to “horrible”. The headlines on the news channels even screamed, “Kank is going to tank”, “Kank did not live up to people’s expectations”, “the audience has not liked KANK”, etc. On all the movie sites and other websites you will find scathing comments and reviews of KANK by majority of netizens. The general public were mouthing expletives in trains, buses, etc while criticizing KANK. The tickets were easily available at multiplexes & single screen theatres even for the week-end shows in the first week. I have seen the movie seven times in multiplexes in the first week just to see whether the shows are really going housefull and I saw half empty theatres in spite of housefull board outside. After all this happenings and in spite of widespread criticism of KANK, how can the media, filmmakers and trade analysts proclaim that KANK as a super hit movie after just three days. Найден по ссылке: Best Internet Marketing Company Logo.

The same news channels that gave headlines of KANK’s failure on the first two days are now talking about the stupendous success of KANK. What would have happened in those two days is easy to guess. Sensing the falling BO figures from the fourth day, NDTV channel aired their weekly show “We, the people” on Friday instead of Sunday when it is always aired. The “special show” dealt with the subject of failed marriages with Karan Johar and SRK as two of the panelists. All the panelists including the host of the show, Barkha Dutt, talked only about the movie and praised the movie. Nothing else. Not a single panelist criticized the movie. This clearly proved that the show was produced and aired just to publicise the movie and was a desperate move to lift the sagging BO figures of KANK. Other channels like Aaj Tak, CNNIBN etc, were not too far. They also aired interviews of Abhishek and Amitabh who were talking about the success of the movie. http://www.videochatus.com

After the film critics were done with their job of praising KANK to the skies in their reviews, it was now the turn of trade analysts to indulge in exaggerated BO reports. After all, a big filmmaker like Karan Johar and a big distributor like Yashraj films were not going to allow anyone to call their movie as a flop. Not only was their reputation at stake but their ego would have also get hurt if the movie were declared a flop. The first week collections of KANK were always going to be huge considering the hype, the banner and 1000 prints. But to call it a super success is just exaggeration. The audience, especially SRK fans, were bound to watch the movie no matter how bad or good it was. But the fact is that the movie was disliked by majority of people. Just because KANK collected huge figures at BO in the first week does not mean that people have appreciated the movie. Even in places like Indore and other small towns the multiplexes were half empty on the second day itself with people giving negative feedback. And it should be remembered that KANK has made money only in cities and one should know that majority of Indians live in villages and small towns where the movie has proved to be a failure. Therefore no matter what the trade experts and Karan Johar say about BO figures of KANK in second week, we the majority of people know that the movie has flopped miserably. There is no repeat value for the movie and thus the movie cannot be deemed as popular. It’s just a technical hit due to its hype, increased ticket prices and large number of prints and not to forget exaggerated BO figures. And yes, Mr. Karan, Mr. Amitabh and Mr. SRK, there is no healthy debate going on but only criticism of KANK by majority of people.
The All India attendance was reported to be almost 100 percent on the first day and the collections for the first week were declared at around 6 crores. There are seven territories in India. And even if we assume that the attendance was 100 percent in the first week in all the seven territories then by simple arithmetic the figures comes to 42 crores and if we add 13 crores from oversead territory then the total adds upto 55 crores. So where does the 72 crore figure come from? But the fact is that not all territories have reported 100 percent attendance nor can any territory other than Mumbai have grossed 6 crores. And it should also be noted that compared to Mumbai and Delhi UP territory the other territories are small and cannot generate figures of 6 crores in first week. Even if we assume for a moment that the figures given are authentic then how can they claim that they have recovered their investment of 50 crores and made profit considering that out of the gross collection, 40 percent goes to government as way of entertain tax and the remaining amount is divided among producers and exhibitors. Im glad to propose to Download movies for less then 1$ per movie.

The exaggerated BO figures in the media is also due to the rivalry going on between big filmmakers and big distribution companies. Since Rakesh Roshan is touting the Hrithik starrer Krissh as biggest hit this year, KJ & Yashraj films are leaving no stone unturned to call KANK as the biggest hit of 2006 by giving exaggerated figures. In recent past we had Yashraj films touting Fanaah to be a super duper hit with gross figures of 100 crores just to subside UTV as its competitor that has Rang De Basanti to its credit. This will not stop. The next fight will be between UTV’s Don and Yashraj’s Dhoom. Since many of these production and distribution companies are listed on stock exchange the need for exaggerating BO figures has become more imperative for them. Therefore the I&B minister and the Tax authorities have to step in to see that the BO figures quoted in media are authentic and audited because the money of common man is invested in these companies.

Finally, I would like to tell the big producers and distributors that no matter what figures they give in newspapers and other medium, we the audience is not going to believe any of those figures. Don’t underestimate our intelligence.

AMJAD K. MARUF