Dinesh Vijan has done disservice to film industry through corporate booking, says Komal Nahata: ‘People are now questioning genuine hits'

Indian Express

2 days ago

The biggest hit of this year in India so far has been Laxman Utekar's historical action film Chhaava, starring Vicky Kaushal. It's produced by Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films, which also scored the biggest hit of last year — Amar Kaushik's horror comedy Stree 2, starring Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor, which became the first Hindi film to cross the Rs 600 crore mark in India.
But leading trade analyst Komal Nahata feels Vijan has also done a lot of disservice to film trade. 'When Dinesh Vijan started this trend of block booking, on a huge scale by spending crores, I'd written in my articles then that he's doing such a disservice to the industry he doesn't realize it. The direct and true impact of that is now, the newspapers are questioning genuine hits,' argued Nahata.
He further elaborated on Fairdoon Shahryar's podcast, 'The newspapers now think a film can't be a hit anymore. If every film is doing well, then there's something wrong. Because Dinesh Vijan, you've drilled it into people's heads that there's nothing like a genuine hit anymore. His own Chhaava, a super-duper hit, is also being pointed fingers at: is it such a big hit? So you've done disservice to your film also.'
Nahata also blamed the industry practice of offering the 'buy one get one' scheme on movie tickets. 'The public is now demanding it as a matter of right. 'It's not free, let's not go.' So you've ruined the whole system for your personal gain,' added Nahata, who claimed exhibitors reach out to him to stop this practice as the audience now waits a week or two to let these offers kick in. So none of the new films are able to secure a good opening at the domestic box office.
Tarun Mansukhani's hit whodunit comedy Housefull 5, starring Akshay Kumar and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, also employed that tactic by offering the scheme on its first Tuesday itself. Last week, the two new releases — Ajay Devgn's comedy Son of Sardaar 2 and Karan Johar-produced romantic drama Dhadak 2 — also offered the audience 50% discount using promo codes in order to combat the wave caused by Yash Raj Films' romance Saiyaara and Hombale Films' mythological animated film Mahavatar Narsimha.
Also Read — Dinesh Vijan on success of Stree 2 and Chhaavaa, says Vicky Kaushal's Mahavatar will be a 'world-class film': 'Distribution is God'
'This isn't filmmaking, this isn't film business. You call this your style of promotion? Would you also murder two people and attract crowd in the theatres then? You can't change the definition of promotion just because you want to gather a crowd,' said Nahata, adding, 'You're a part of the industry. Don't change the dynamics of the industry so much that other producers, distributors, and exhibitors have to pay such a huge price for it.'
Maddock Films' next, Tushar Jalota's romantic film Param Sundari, starring Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor, is slated to release in cinemas on August 29.