Kantara: Chapter 1 collected around Rs. 3.50 crore on its 4th Monday at the Indian box office, taking its total gross over Rs. 670 crore. There is a fall in business, but that’s expected after a long festive period. The absolute numbers are fantastic for a 4th Monday, amongst the biggest ever. The film has collected Rs. 31 crore approx in the first four days of its fourth week. The full week is projected to collect around Rs. 40 crore, for a total of Rs. 680 crore by Thursday.
Under normal conditions, the film would have cruised past Rs. 700 crore and close around Rs. 710-720 crore, but now it has an obstacle coming up, which could cut its run short. The film will be available to watch digitally from 30th October. It is not free streaming but rental, though that doesn’t really make a difference, as the film will be available en masse by piracy all the same. If this move ends up keeping the film short of the Rs. 700 crore mark, that will be plain sad.
Time and again, it is said here how the indian film industry needs to elongate the theatrical window to safeguard the theatrical. The national chains, having a bigger bargaining power in the Hindi cinema, have thus far been able to manage an 8-week window, but down South, it’s madness as the films are dumped digitally within four weeks of release. The shortsightedness of not being able to see how this is a shot in the foot move is going to come back to haunt in in the years to come.
Digital has eroded the theatrical base for non-event Bollywood films to a large extent. South India has a far superior moviegoing culture, but it seems keen to repeat the same mistakes which were made in the North. From inflated ticket prices to short windows, all these are going to kill the business in the long run. The sooner they realise, the better it is.
ALSO READ: Bison Kaalamaadan Box Office Collections: Dhruv Vikram starrer Tops 50cr Worldwide after 2nd Weekend