Demonetisation-hit box office now sees better days ahead

Films released in past two weeks may not have garnered the revenues anticipated by trade gurus because of demonetisation, but the situation is improving now, experts maintain.

Trade experts say the situation is relatively normal compared to the previous week and that audiences have started to walk into theatres. Single-screen theatres are the ones that had to bear the burnt, as the bulk of the audience prefers to buy tickets with cash and not online.

"There has been a huge dip. I feel sorry for the film 'Rock On 2' which released the week when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made this announcement. But this Friday was relatively better. I can't say good, but it was decent," Manoj Desai, Executive Director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema, told IANS.

Desai said single screens were highly affected because most of the people were digitally challenged.

"Here in Gaeity Galaxy, most of the people book their tickets in cash -- which was one of the problems for them. Due to demonetisation, their priorities were different, so they preferred to sort those issues out rather than watch films," he said.

This Friday "Force 2" and "Tum Bin 2" had a clash at the box office. But the John Abraham starrer managed to pull in a fair amount of business.

"Overall in the first weekend, there was a huge fall in the collection, but now things are getting back to normal as 'Force 2' had a decent amount of crowd. We hope going ahead, things should get better," Devang Sampat, Director - Strategic Initiatives, Cinepolis India, told IANS.

The director of the film "Tum Bin 2", Anubhav Sinha, is happy with Modi's move, he is also hugely disappointed as his film has been affected.

"It has affected very badly. As a producer-director, I am feeling sad as you give your blood and sweat to a film and everything is going right when suddenly an outside force, which you have no control over, actually affects the prospects. This is heart breaking," he told IANS.

Gauri Shinde's "Dear Zindagi" is all set to hit the screens this Friday and Manoj Desai hopes for a good opening for the film.

"I am hoping that things will be far better for 'Dear Zindagi'. The only problem now is that it's high time we get the new Rs 500 notes back in action so it gets easier to exchange the money. If someone comes with a Rs 2,000 note, it is not easy to give them change," said Desai.

--IANS

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