After Team India lost to Sri Lanka in the semi-finals of the 1996 cricket World Cup, Ian Chappell commented, “If only India had played to their strengths...”. What he meant was that right through the tournament, India was more adept at defending the score while Lankans preferred chasing it. But for this crucial match, India chose to field first. Chappell added that the fate of the match was decided the moment India invited Sri Lanka to bat first.
What Chappell said about knowing one’s strengths also proved right when a plethora of movies—Aage se Right, Fox, Three–Love Lies and Betrayal, Chintuji, Bachelor Party, Mohandas and Final Destination 4—released on the same date. The makers were apprehensive that once the shraadh and Ramzan periods were over, and the bigger films started releasing, their movies would sink at the box office. Expectedly, the result wasn’t any different when they all chose the same week for release. The films only ended up eating into each other’s share.
Also Read Ashish Saksena’s earlier columns
The release date plays an important role in the success of a film. But the problem arises when producers stop experimenting and questioning the validity of a certain release date. Often we have pre-conceived notions that films should not be released in the pre-exam, Ramzan, pre-Dussehra and pre-Diwali periods. We have already decided that the best period to release a film are from May to August and then post-Diwali and then Christmas. Producers follow these rules blindly.
The phenomenon of multiple releases in a week is expected to recur in November and December when the big films will clash, resulting in two or even three releases in a week. All this simply because everyone wants to release their films in this supposedly strong period instead of moving them to February and March next year when they would be assured of a bigger and better release and a longer run at the theatres.
There are those, however, who take a gamble and succeed. Munnabhai MBBS, which was scheduled to release on 10 January 2004, got a window of opportunity when LOC Kargil, which was earlier slotted for 19 December 2003, moved to the next year. Despite shortage of time, and warning that it was a bad move to release a film in the pre-Christmas period, its producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra grabbed this date and he was rewarded with better showcasing and therefore a successful extended run, making the film a hit.
For long, Christmas holidays were considered a bad time to release a film. It was believed that year-ending festivity and holidays overseas prove to be a hindrance for a successful run. Bhaagam Bhag released on 22 December and proved sceptics wrong. Now Aamir Khan virtually owns this date with Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini releasing during Christmas in the last two years and 3 Idiots releasing this year around the same time.