📌 Key Points
- “Main Vaapas Aaunga” initially struggled, earning ₹1.15 crore on opening day.
- Positive word-of-mouth boosted its collection to over ₹30 crore in 12 days.
- Imtiaz Ali frequently visits theaters to interact with audiences and gather feedback.
- He urges Bollywood to learn film making and marketing strategies directly from viewers.
Filmmaker Imtiaz Ali champions the audience’s supreme power after his film “Main Vaapas Aaunga” saw a remarkable box office turnaround driven by word-of-mouth. He asserts that Bollywood should actively learn from viewers on how to effectively make and market films, highlighting their crucial role in a movie’s success.
Audience: The Ultimate Film Critic & Marketer
The turnaround Main Vaapas Aaunga has seen at the box office has reaffirmed the audience and the industry’s faith in the power of word-of-mouth. The film’s director, Imtiaz Ali , has hailed the audience’s power in propping up the film and said that the industry needs to learn from them about how to make and market films.
Imtiaz has been frequently visiting theatres in Delhi and Mumbai over the last week, interacting with the audience and taking feedback.
“Main Vaapas Aaunga”: A Box Office Phoenix
Talking about the audience’s role in helping films sustain at the box office, the filmmaker added, “Ultimately, Janata janardan hai (the audience is supreme). We always try to predict people, put them into categories and socio-economic classes, and we try to make strategies to predict how people are going to react to a brand or a film, but I think people largely understand cinema. We should actually learn from them how to make a film and how to market films.”
Imtiaz Ali’s Call for Industry Learning
Main Vaapas Aaunga has been praised by critics, opening to impressive reviews, but hardly found takers in the theatres, earning just ₹ 1.15 crore net domestically on its opening day. But due to positive word-of-mouth, it had increaed it to ₹ 5.75 crore net by its 10th day. The film is doing well in its second week, having crossed ₹ 30 crore in just over 12 days.
Imtiaz Ali’s observations underscore a vital lesson for the film industry: the audience remains the ultimate arbiter of success. Embracing viewer feedback and understanding their preferences is paramount for crafting and promoting cinematic experiences that truly resonate.
