With box-office collections taking precedence over all other aspects of filmmaking including content, filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, talking to us on the sidelines of the recently concluded Himalayan Film Festival, hopes that more movies reach the milestone figures, instead of just a handful. “The number game and stuff is not new, and is always going to be there. ₹500 crore will at some point become a ₹1000 or even ₹2000-crore. It’s great, fantastic. But, it’d be nicer to have more such grossers than just two-three films in a year. It should be 10 films in a year to go and crack that number across different genres,” he says.
That being said, the Lootera , Udaan and AK Vs AK director asserts that not every film has the potential to generate same hype and buzz or do similar business. Describing the process as cyclical, he explains, “The same films that we had made at some point in the 80s and 90s, went through a period where suddenly everybody wanted to do the same thing, then came saturation, and then the audiences were like, ‘You are taking us for idiots’. So, it goes back to again finding certain amount of diversity. Hopefully, this time, we already know that not every film can be a Jawan or Pathaan with Shah Rukh Khan. You can’t replace SRK and that experience with some other actor, and expect the same result. It’s a moment in time with SRK, and those films that’s happening.”
The 46-year-old also lauds the fact that all three highest grossers this year -- Jawan, Pathaan and Gadar 2 knew their target audience well, and that’s why they succeeded. “Also, post-pandemic, this is really our first big going back to the theatres. It’s also our first big cinema for the masses that’s also happened in many years. There was a tendency for us, even pre-pandemic, to somewhat have our films be a little more multiplex friendly. And these films were made with a straight mass, single-screen approach. They were designed in that way, and it means cinema for the masses is alive and kicking, and people are going to come and see it. We thought we had lost the audience but we haven’t,” Motwani continues, “The fact that Jawan, Pathaan and Gadar 2 are doing really well in the single screen market, and breaking those crazy numbers, the fact that a Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani goes out and kills the multiplex market, and the fact that a Drishyam works and an Oppenheimer also works, are great signs of the fact that if you make a spectacle for an audience that’s going to be excited, they will come and watch it on the big screen.”
{{/usCountry}}The 46-year-old also lauds the fact that all three highest grossers this year -- Jawan, Pathaan and Gadar 2 knew their target audience well, and that’s why they succeeded. “Also, post-pandemic, this is really our first big going back to the theatres. It’s also our first big cinema for the masses that’s also happened in many years. There was a tendency for us, even pre-pandemic, to somewhat have our films be a little more multiplex friendly. And these films were made with a straight mass, single-screen approach. They were designed in that way, and it means cinema for the masses is alive and kicking, and people are going to come and see it. We thought we had lost the audience but we haven’t,” Motwani continues, “The fact that Jawan, Pathaan and Gadar 2 are doing really well in the single screen market, and breaking those crazy numbers, the fact that a Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani goes out and kills the multiplex market, and the fact that a Drishyam works and an Oppenheimer also works, are great signs of the fact that if you make a spectacle for an audience that’s going to be excited, they will come and watch it on the big screen.”
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Motwane, whose show Jubilee was screened at THFF, says he feels extremely happy and exited when he gets to visit different film festivals. “It’s always lovely to go to new places whether you’re watching movies or taking your own film or series there. It’s fantastic because you get a chance to see new things, meet new people and taste new food. But also, showing your work to an audience who has never seen it, or never maybe never had a chance to watch it before, or the fact that you are actually taking cinema to people who did not have had the chance to watch it on a screen with other filmmakers and other like-minded people, is a great experience,” he ends