It seems obtrusive when the juggernaut films talk about and report of earning crores and crores of rupees but the shelf life of plenty of them is thin as a wafer. Over the past few years, we have had a section of films that have earned over 300 or 400 crores at the box office but that is mainly subjected to a substantial theatrical run of less than five weeks. Such has become the business, and a lot of that is owing to those mega films not having a longer window, as another biggie awaits right at the brim for release. Hence, in these testing times, you come across pearls of sustaining life that is rare but solidify the belief that a long theatrical run despite interruptions and competition is possible and powerful.
The case study of the latest release, Stree 2 has been one to marvel at and has almost left everyone bewildered. Not only has it become the second-highest-grossing Hindi film ever, it has managed to stay consistent with its collection fighting off all sorts of completion in every manner possible. Apart from earning over 300 crores in the first week, the film now completed 50 days in theatres and even in its past two weeks, it has collectively earned over 30 crores – it has been unheard of for a film to have this degree of sustenance at the box office. Also, it’s still going strong and still has a few crores to add.
Such cases have been a rarity but it feels partially heartening to know that another recent example of the same was the underdog, 12th Fail. To put in context, the Vikrant Massey-led film earned just over 1.10 cr on Day 1, and the immaculate word-of-mouth and consistently rising popularity of the film led it to have over 12 weeks of theatrical run and till about week 7, it was still garnering over 2 crores – which for a film of this scale is a feat to relish.
Another film that usually goes off the radar when it comes to the box office is Andhadhun. Another film that came out of nowhere, and having just a 2.70 cr start on Day 1, Andhadhun went on to have an elongated run amassing several weeks but like 12th Fail, the film kept earning over 2 to 2.5 crores till week 6 finally ending it’s fun at 75 crores.
The anomaly in this list and perhaps a film whose performance raised more eyeballs than ever was Kantara. You expected the big-ass hero-led actioners and potboilers from down South to do well in the Hindi belt but Kantara broke those shackles entirely. Opening with a 1.10 cr number on Day 1, Kantara had a quick sprint to have a five-week theatrical run amassing 79.25 cr just in dubbed Hindi language.
The closest any film comes to Stree 2 in terms of its long innings at the box office is URI – The Surgical Strike. Even in Week 4 to Week 6, URI collected over 32 crores, and another 7 crores in Week 7.
These films and their longevity has been one to witness and even though we get this sporadically and at times, the gaps are longer, the fleeting instances add to belief and justify the cliche, ‘content is king and will always reign supreme.’
