Pushpa 1 that rattled Bollywood streams on Amazon Prime

 

Pushpa 1 The Rise has started the sunset of the Bollywood Empire. This what every trade pundit in Mumbai is saying after the collections of Pushpa’s  Hindi dubbed version in North belt. The feeling is not an emotional one and based on Box Office facts of 2021. Pushpa has beaten Bollywood’s only blockbuster hit of 2021 – Sooryavanshi with Akshay Kumar in the lead. A South film dubbed into Hindi and with almost zero promotion in Bollywood media does the unthinkable. So if RRR and Radhe Shyam come with promotions and a visiting card called Baahubali and Saaho, what will happen in Bollywood box office ?. Entering Rs 200 crore club ( India Gross collections) for a Bollywood Star film was a cakewalk. This time only  Sooryavanshi could get into the club. See the figures – Pushpa 1 India Gross – Rs 265 crors. Sooryavanshi – Rs 196 crores and adding overseas touched Rs 293 crores.

Film industry goes for a toss when the Stars begin to fail, Just when Akshay Kumar was lauded for bringing crowds back to movie halls, consequent films began to flop miserably. Bunty aur Babli 2 ( Yash Raj production- Saif- Rani Mukherji), Satyamev Jayate 2 ( John Abraham), Antim( Salman Khan), Chandigarh --- ( Ayusshman Khurana) and lastly 63 ( Ranveer Kapoor- Katrina).

Sallu Bhai aka Salman Khan delivering two duds at Indian box office shook Bollywood. Radhe directed by Prabhudeva grossed Rs 6 lakh and said to have made money from OTT and overseas. The film was badly panned by critics and public in social media. But Antim released went on to give paltry Rs 40 crores in Indian market.

As critics put Covid and film being docu- drama as reason for 83 to be flop, they failed to notice that Tadap with Suniel Shetty’s son Ahan making his debut had recovered the cost and made modest profit. What went unnoticed was that it was Telugu film RX 100 remake.

As Pushpa got over squabbling between Goldmine who had the Hindi dubbed rights and producer over movie hall release and finally AA coming on board, it was seen as yet another Telugu film dubbed that would be seen on YouTube Channel and not for theaters. Those who saw the film trailor on YouTube started to come from evening shows and rest is history. Fact that numbers are coming from Maharashtra – Gujarat which contributed to Sooryavanshi is what is disturbing to Bollywood.

One reason given by a Trade critic is that Bollywood moved away from subjects that appealed to non-metros and this vacuum has been filled by Pushpa. Yet another reason is that many say is word of mouth power that has beaten the orchestrated Bollywood PR network. One section is happy that an Allu Arjun who is out of the nepotism circle of Bollywood has beaten these guys and see it as a reaction of Hindi movie goers who after death of Sushanth Singh is disgusted with these lobby.

Amazon is streaming the film today evening and they are happy lot. The film is still in theaters and with the tag of a blockbuster hit, it feels lucky to have sealed the deal much before the film was released or else …

.

 

Pushpa thanked Ajay Devgn - Ritiesh Deshmukh - Reason revealed

 Pushpa 2- The Rule is the sequel to first part . Reason for Ajay Devgn and Ritiesh Deshmukh being thanked by producers of Pushpa on screen has been revealed. Pushpa's Malayalam version released  only on  Day 2  took Rs 2,15 cr   ( Tamil- Malayalam). With Tamil print alone in Kerala, Day 1 was Rs 1.75 cr. Rs 4,95 cr Net was Tamil Nadu collection. Hindi Net was Rs 6.85 cr. Telugu Net was Rs 60.95 cr. Two day Worldwide is Rs 104, 2 cr with India net being Rs 76.55 cr.

Director Sukumar  say that the second part as expected is the clash between Pushpa and Inspector Singh ( Faasil). The director ruled out any change in cast. Sources said it more deals with the exploitation by lobby of merchants who with political support in Andhra and Tamil Nadu of the laborer's to run their red sanders shipment abroad. Inspector Singh learns that he and his men are used by the lobby to keep Pushpa under  check.  Inspector Singh becomes a game changer in the red sanders smuggling biz.

The second part will have more political overtones. Sources close to the director say that the subject for Part 2 was already locked before Part 1 release. However given the harassment meted out to Pushpa distributors by AP Government in reducing ticket rates and then leaving local bodies to decide with some strict unheard of conditions, Part 2 may look like a hit back by Allu Arjun.

Bollywood sources said that Pushpa's producers  had requested Ajay Devgn to  tweet the link of the trailer of the film’s Hindi version. Ajay did so and tweeted that it was powerful and wished Allu Arjun all success.  Similarly Riteish Deshmukh hhimself tweeted about Pushpa's trailor release. Allu Arjun had wished Sooryavanshi all luck at time of release and in the Mumbai promotional event, he said that Sooryavanshi had opened the gates for Bollywood post pandemic and thanked the team.

As a token of appreciation, producers put the names of these actors in the thankyou credit list on screen.

Pushpa second highest worldwide after Rajinikanth's Annatthe

Rajinikanth's Annatthe continues to be 2021's  highest Indian film opening worldwide  with Pushpa The Rise coming second . It has beaten the record of Thalapathy Vijay's Master, Akshay Kumar's Sooryavanshi and Pawan Kalyan's Vakeel Saab for year 2021. On the opening day, Pushpa gross collection worldwide was Rs 57. 83 crores. The biggest surprise was in the Hindi market. Allu Arjun has no earlier releases and only his dubbed films on YouTube, OTT and Hindi TV channels that took him to North audience. On Day 1, morning shows were vacant as Pushpa dubbed version was playing in YT continuously, By evening and night, the shows were full. Pushpa, due to Spider Man got few screens and odd hour timings in multiplexes. The Hindi gross was Rs 4..30 crore on Day 1. Significantly, Telugu version collection was only Rs 70 lakhs. E4 distributors botched up Malayalam version release on Day 1 in Kerala. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too recorded full houses. North Indian response is a surprise as the top collections are from sectors where single screen are in majority. It is a shot in arm for South films looking for Expanding to Hindi markets.

Despite the euphoria, trade has adopted a wait and watch attitude since the budget is Rs 250 crores and has been sold for  dizzying figures. Worldwide theatrical distribution rights has been sold for Rs 154 crore. According to BollywoodLife the following targets has to be got by buyers :

Blockbuster - Distributor share of Rs. 230 crore or more
Superhit - Distributor share of Rs. 200-229 crore
Hit - Distributor share of Rs. 170-199 crore
Above Average - Distributor share of Rs. 160-169 crore
Average - Distributor share of Rs. 150-159 crore
Flop - Distributor share of Rs. 120-149 crore
Disaster - Distributor share less than 119 crore 

Allu Arjun shells out money to get Pushpa Hindi released

Allu Arjun had to shell out money to save his face as the Bollywood company that bought the Hindi dubbing rights refused to spend any money on promotions or in distribution. The company told Mythiri the production house that Allu Arjun was no pan Indian star and no audience would come to see Pushpa in theaters. The company said that they would release the film on channels including YouTube and not in theaters.

Mythiri who has spent a huge amount on the presumption that Pushpa would do an All India biz was shocked. They had seen the figures of Ala Vaikantapuram and were confident of Pushpa 1 doing good in North and releasing Pushpa 2. Bollywood company told Mythiri that every Telugu actor coming with a huge budget film was not an attraction to North audience and they would be contended watching it on TV with a dubbed version. Ala vaikunthapurramuloo earned 269.35 cr worldwide collection. 

Mythiri however got hold of a company in Mumbai to do the theatrical release/ This time the Hindi dubbing rights holder said that he wanted a share of the profits, if any , but would not spend on promotions. Allu Arjun finally stepped in and decided to take a cut from his remuneration and foot the Hindi version theatre  release and distribution- promotion. Two parts cost Rs 250 crores with Rs 70 crores as Allu Arjuns salary. Pushpa will release in five languages - Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada. Directed by Sukumar, the film also stars Rashmika Mandanna and Fahadh Faasil. Pushpa has been co-produced by Mythri Movie Makers and Muttamsetty Media.

Bollywood comanies are waiting for Sooryavanshi biz to decide on the public feedback to theater reopening. Will public sit at home and watch Diwali fare on OTT or come out to emjoy a film ?. Most of shopping has been online and gifts are being given through portals to kith and kin. House visits are rare. This has created a scare among film trade. 

Unlike in Chennai - Hyderabad - Bengaluru where shopping malls and local markets are flowing with shoppers, Mumbai's shopping frenzy has not touched the pre- Covid figures says trade. Will it be the same for theaters ?