Had someone said that Allu Arjun’s Pushpa would garner more viewers than 83 in the Hindi belt, we would have passed it off as a joke. But, that very prospect of a joke has now turned into a reality as Pushpa’s Hindi version has not only gone ahead of 83 in terms of day to day comparisons, but has also moved past 83 in terms of ticket receipts. Gone are the days when South Indian movies got higher viewers only on television. Now they are the most preferred choice for viewers in theatres as well, barring a few exceptions.
Pushpa had modest beginnings in the Hindi belt as it collected a little more than Rs. 3 cr nett on its first day. The film showed great legs at the box office and went from strength to strength as its seventeenth ticketing day at the box office was greater than its first day. As things stand, Pushpa’s theatrical exhibition in the third week is more than its first and second week, which is a feat not many films can boast about, in today’s time. The film is steadily raking-in in excess of Rs. 2 cr nett each day, even in its third week, and with all major releases postponed to a later date, the film has an open playing field, all to itself, where it can fancy touching Rs. 90 cr nett.
83, on the other hand, opened to Rs. 12 cr nett on its first day and showed nominal growth over the weekend. The film sustained at low levels courtesy the holiday season and dropped massively once the holidays were over. 83, in its second week, is collecting less than Pushpa in its third week. As things stand, 83 is crawling towards the Rs. 100 cr mark and is likely to end its run with a tally of Rs. 105 cr nett.
83’s higher collections are attributed to severely high priced tickets. Pushpa’s ticket prices have been kept reasonable and a high percentage of footfalls have come from single screen theatres where ticket prices are generally low. Also, when we compare Pushpa with 83, we don’t consider the five southern states for Pushpa because the Hindi version of Pushpa didn’t get enough showcasing since every state had its own language version playing. Despite that, Pushpa’s footfalls for the Hindi version, comfortably edge past 83’s all India footfalls. In fact, Pushpa has garnered more viewers than Sooryavanshi in the Eastern circuit and Rajasthan circuit and has matched footfalls of Sooryavanshi in Central parts of India.
Considering that Pushpa collects a total of Rs. 85 cr nett for its Hindi version, the ticket receipts will be somewhere around 65 lakh. 83, which is expected to rake in Rs. 105 cr nett, will have ticket receipts in the vicinity of 55 lakh. Sooryavanshi topped the ticket sales for a Bollywood film last year with 1.25 crore tickets, while Pushpa, with footfalls around 2 crore, topped the list of highest all India footfalls for the year of 2021.
What are your thoughts on the consumption pattern of audiences?
Written by Rishil Jogani
