Pankaj Tripathi hails Mirzapur The Movie makers for not plastering box office numbers online: 'There was zero pressure'
Here's the latest box office buzz making the rounds:
Mirzapur : The Movie has been one of the biggest success stories for Bollywood this year. The spinoff of the popular web series is set to cross ₹ 300 crore rupees at the global ticket-window in under two weeks. But for lead star Pankaj Tripathi , the real joy comes from not having to talk about the ticket-window collections. He credits producer Ritesh Sidhwani for that approach.
Adding to this, Pankaj Tripathi reprises the role of Kaleen Bhaiya in Mirzapur The Movie. Pankaj Tripathi on Ritesh Sidhwani Mirzapur: The Movie rolled out last week, earning over ₹ 100 crore rupees worldwide in its opening weekend. But even as trade pundits emphasised on the records it was breaking, the cast kept the focus on viewer reactions. Pankaj says, “Once the movie was rolled out in theatres and the daily numbers started coming in, Ritesh’s approach was remarkable. Even as we crossed milestones, there was zero pressure from his end to project or showcase numbers across social media.”
Meanwhile, Normally, in the age of social media, when films do well at the ticket-window, makers often push the actors to share the collection figures from their personal social media accounts as a way to increase the buzz for the movie. This has become the norm for Indian cinema since the pandemic, when the focus on box-office collections as a metric for the movie’s ‘quality’ has increased.
Notably, However, Pankaj says that Ritesh Sidhwani maintained that for Mirzapur The Movie, the success should spread ‘organically’. He adds, “It was entirely his decision to let the movie’s success spread organically through word of mouth instead of attempting to constantly project numbers. That mindset was really impressive and says a lot about him as a producer.”
As per the latest buzz, Mirzapur had a solid start at the ticket-window, crossing ₹ 100 crore rupees worldwide in its opening weekend itself. But what has helped the movie sustain momentum is how it avoided a big drop in collections on Monday and has since sustained some pace through the weekdays. On its 12th day (Tuesday), the movie collected a solid ₹ 5.50 crore rupees net in India. This takes its 12-day haul at the domestic market to ₹ 195 crore rupees net ( ₹ 233 crore rupees gross). In the international markets, too, the movie has been successful, collecting over $5 million. Its worldwide gross stands at ₹ 281 crore rupees as of Tuesday evening. Mirzapur The Movie is expected to cross the ₹ 300-crore rupees mark in its third weekend.
In further updates, Presented by Amazon MGM Studios and Excel Entertainment, Mirzapur: The Movie is directed by Gurmeet Singh, written by Puneet Krishna, and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under the banner of Excel Entertainment. The movie is co-produced by Kassim Jagmagia and Vishal Ramchandani. Mirzapur is set for a theatrical rollout in Hindi and Telugu on 4 September.
On top of that, The movie stars Ali Fazal, Pankaj Tripathi and Divyenndu, while Jitendra Kumar takes over from Vikrant Massey, who played Bablu Pandit in the show. Ravi Kishan, Abhishek Banerjee, Rasika Dugal, Mohitt Maalik, Sheeba Chadha, Rajesh Tailang, Pramod Pathak, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Harshita Shekhar Gaur, Shweta Tripathi, and Sonal S Chauhan round off the cast.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Movie Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world. Read More
Source: Hindustan Times