SRK’s Dear Zindagi on track despite demonetisation

Shah Rukh Khan’s Dear Zindagi may have found a way to counter the ‘demonetisation’ blues.

Analysts believe the strategy to have a limited release, largely in multiplexes, may help the film tide over the impact of demonetisation. Unlike the mass-scale release for other SRK movies, Dear Zindagi has only been released in about 800 screens.

Directed by Gauri Shinde, the movie has been co-produced by Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment.

“The film has had a ‘very good’ opening in top-end multiplexes and a ‘good’ opening in tier-2 and tier-3 multiplexes,” said box office analyst and independent distributor Suniel Wadhwa.

Multiplex players said they saw a huge impact on ticket sales in the first 10 days after the demonetisation announcement. But in recent days there has been an uptick in footfalls and a surge in online ticket sales.

PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta said that the early shows of the film saw good occupancy on Friday. “It is a steady film which is expected to see good footfalls for the next 2-3 weeks.”

Dutta said that the multiplex chain has seen a huge shift towards online movie ticket sales, with about 20 per cent of the tickets being bought on cash.

Devang Sampat, Director – Strategic Initiatives, Cinépolis India, said that the chain has seen a nearly 25 per cent jump in online ticket sales since the demonetisation move. “Since last weekend we have started seeing improvements in footfalls. Dear Zindagi has opened really well for the first day.”

However, some in the industry believe the box-office collections of the movie could still be impacted because of demonetisation.

A senior executive at a multiplex chain said that the movie could have seen 20-25 per cent higher footfalls.

In a bid to encourage cashless transactions, multiplex players such as PVR and Cinepolis are offering discounts on online ticket bookings and on food and beverage packages.

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