Are we as an industry more fond of mourning than celebrating? Why, otherwise, would the trade brood over the drop in collections of Agneepathon Friday rather than rejoice over its absolutely earth-shattering initial on Thursday? In one jhatka, so to say, the industry folk dismissed the all-time great opening of the Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt starrer on Thursday as a stroke of good luck and began to predict doom for the film when its collections came down on the second day (Friday). No doubt, the drop was perceptible at places, but so what? Why did the trade not appreciate the fact that after the national holiday of Thursday owing to Republic Day, Friday was a working day? Why did the industry people not anticipate the fall on Friday? Why did they not calculate that, in all probability, collections at the ticket windows would again pick up on Saturday and definitely shoot up on Sunday?
That’s exactly what happened. And after Sunday, when collections did not crash on Monday, all tongues in the trade stopped to wag. The only logical inference one can draw from the tirade of the trade against Agneepathon its second day is that it loves to feel sorry, not happy. The industry people lose no time in shedding (crocodile) tears when box-office collections drop, conveniently forgetting that if the first day’s collections were as good as what they ought to have been on the first two days, there is no harm if the drop is steep on day 2. Just because Agneepathsmashed the opening day’s record of Bodyguard, the trade assumed that it had to do more business (in totality) than Bodyguard, and if the fall in collections day later poured water on the industry’s day-dreaming, the film had to be condemned. That means, the very feat of the film (on day 1) worked against its own interest. But the fact is, nobody ever said, Agneepathwould break the record of Bodyguard as far as its total business was concerned. That it broke the first-day record was good enough, wasn’t it? But no, the trade always needs a sob story because that is the only way the industry feels, it can express concern. And what is the worth of a person in the trade till he doesn’t express despair?!? Agneepathis now on its way to touching the Rs.100-crore mark in India, and if that isn’t cause for celebration, pray, what is?
Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.
