When there was no fresh Hindi language material between January and February, the loss of one-and-a-half months was a significant blow to the business. When the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic arrived in the first quarter of 2020, the first quarter had only lost about two weeks.
The film industry may have begun to recover in the first three months of calendar year 2022 following two catastrophic years of the covid-19 epidemic, but box office collections for the quarter remain much lower than those of the Hindi film industry in 2019. Despite blockbusters like Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi and The Kashmir Files, the Hindi film industry remains well behind Bollywood’s 750 crore in 2019, compared to 400 crores in the January-March quarter.
The Omicron version of the coronavirus shut down theatres in portions of India during January and most of February, disrupting the cinema business, which operates on a January to December accounting year.
However, Telugu and Tamil films such as RRR, Bheemla Nayak, and others attracted a larger audience than Hindi films.
“Business in the first quarter was just about mediocre at best,” said Atul Mohan, editor of trade publication Complete Cinema. “However, The Kashmir Files has been some sort of saving grace.”
He also stated that the rehabilitation process was lengthy since major film releases were dispersed and there was no continuity in the flow of large pictures. Overall, he claimed, the current year’s box office receipts may only be around 2,500-3,000 crore, compared to the 2019 profits of 4,400 crore.
The Akshay Kumar-starrer has a lifetime gross of Rs 49.88 crore. Bachchhan Paandey has been a great failure, whereas political drama The Kashmir Files has made a tremendous profit of 245.03 crore, and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi has also made a huge profit of 128.50 crore. Jhund, starring Amitabh Bachchan, and comic drama Badhaai Do, on the other hand, failed to attract an audience, grossing just 15.16 crore and 20.62 crore, respectively.
When there was no new Hindi language material between January and February, Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer at INOX Leisure Ltd, said the loss of one-and-a-half months was a big impact in the business. In comparison, when the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic hit in the first quarter of 2020, theatres around the country were forced to close for two weeks. Despite not yet reaching pre-pandemic levels, the business is quickly recovering, according to Jyala.
Between January and March 2022, Hindi films grew at a faster rate on BookMyShow, accounting for 32 percent of total sales, while regional Telugu films grew at a slightly faster rate, accounting for 38 percent of total sales, according to Saksena. “Considering we didn’t have a Hindi release in January and much of February, Hindi films have fared exceptionally well,” he continued, “clearly highlighting the massive pent-up demand and audience enthusiasm to return to the silver screen across languages.”
