The National Film Day, which was celebrated on September 23, was, as expected, a great success. The tickets were sold for Rs. 75 and the public licked it up and stunned commerce and industry. The Multiplex Association of India (MAI) claimed in its official statement that more than 6.5 million viewers crowded the cinemas on National Cinema Day. However, Raj Bansal, the owner of Entertainment Paradise in Jaipur, objected to this claim on Sunday, September 25. He tweeted: “The media reporting that 6.5 million viewers across the country watched movies on #NationalCinemaDay is absolutely wrong and misleading” (sic).
EXCLUSIVE: Raj Bansal objects to Multiplex Association of India’s claim that 6.5 million moviegoers watched movies on National Cinema Day: “The actual number CANNOT be more than 3 million people”
Bollywood Hungama spoke exclusively to Raj Bansal to understand why he posted this tweet, which has gotten a lot of attention. He explained his position by making some calculations, although he made it clear that the figures he quoted are not exact, but approximate and give a reasonable idea of his argumentation.
He said: “The actual number cannot be more than 3 million people. I will explain why. About 7 lakhs tickets were sold for Brahmastra by the three leading multiplex chains – PVR, Inox and Cinepolis. I think about 4 lakhs tickets were sold for small movies like ? Chup, Dhokha Round D Corner etc. That equates to about 11.50 lakhs. If we assume that 6 lakh people must have seen the regional movies, the total comes to 18.50 lakhs. Let’s round it up to 20 lakhs, that’s 2 million.”
Raj Bansal continued: “Now let’s count with all the theaters in mind and not just the three multiplexes. According to the official figures Brahmastra collected Rs. 9 crores net from all cinemas on Friday. The ticket price was Rs. 75 and excluding 12% GST, the amount comes to Rs. 66 per ticket. If you divide 9 crores by Rs. 66, the answer you get is the total number of people who have seen Brahmastra – 13.63 lakhs. Assuming a similar number of people have seen the rest of the movies, the figure will not go beyond 28 lakhs. This was my problem. They are misleading that 6.5 million or 65 lakhs people have seen movies on National Cinema Day. It’s impossible.”
Raj Bansal made it clear that he is happy with house-packed shows and that thousands of people came to the theaters on September 23, but he argued that there was no reason to give false information. He stated: “The trade should strongly object to this claim. We must not mislead. Indeed, if 6.5 million people had come on National Cinema Day, the collections of all films would have been over Rs. 40 million dollars.”
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