The thriller of Sunny Deol and Dulquer Salmaan, chup, produced by R. Balki and the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and directed by R. Balki got a good box office opening in India. Early estimates say the film is in the range of €2.60 to 3.20 crores on its opening day. The film greatly benefited from the National Cinema Day as it became the second choice for the public after that Brahmastra. A decent trailer, familiar faces in the star cast and tickets for Rs. 75 were the driving forces behind the film to attract good visitors on the opening day.
If it’s not for National Film Day, chup It might have even struggled for a crore on Friday, but it’s the best example of how the right pricing can boost a feature film’s business in India. The affordable fares brought more crowds to buy the tickets as Rs. 75 didn’t seem too heavy on anyone’s pocket. chup was released on about 1,000 screens in India and there were some properties that had a capacity issue on the day of release due to higher than expected audience demand.
chup sold about 4 lakh tickets on the day of its release, and this is indeed one of the biggest surprises of the year in terms of revenue and attendance. By the end of its opening weekend, it could surpass the footsteps of some of the bigger Bollywood releases this year. the opening of chup is comparable to some of the bigger Bollywood movies like Lane 34, Jersey, Jayeshbhai Jordaar to name a few. However, if we compare the footsteps, the gap seems even bigger, like chup sold more tickets on the day of release than the combined tickets of the said films.
chup is an industry case study on how pricing can help a feature film in the price-sensitive world we live in. Prices will be back to normal from tomorrow, so we won’t be surprised if the collections drop. In an ideal scenario, the producers and cinema owners should have lowered prices for the entire weekend, given the initial reactions to the film, but unfortunately that is not happening. all said and done, chup has made a good start at the cash register. Hopefully this will motivate more and more filmmakers to keep tickets affordable.