New Delhi, India – When Raghav Bikhchandani create out on social media that Gangs of Wasseypur, the acclaimed Indian blockbuster freed in 2012, was all set to hit the theatres in New Delhi aachieve, he krecent he could not miss it this time and even vigilanted disjoinal film clubs and WhatsApp groups he was part of.
For the 27-year-ageder imitate editor, getting to watch the two-part film felt enjoy “finassociate being begind to the most memed movie in Indian pop culture” as he create himself commuting for three hours on an August afternoon to a seedy theatre in the city’s Subhash Nagar neighbourhood to catch the movie on the huge screen.
“I came into Hindi cinema much procrastinateedr in life, and I had missed out on seeing this on the huge screen. When I was studying awide in Chicago, even NRIs in my university would quote dialogues from this movie but I had never gotten a chance to see it. So I krecent I couldn’t miss this opportunity,” he tageder Al Jazeera.
Based in a mining town in eastrict India on a decades-extfinished feud between rival gangs mainly dealing in coal, “the bdeficiency diamond”, the Anurag Kacowardlyap-straightforwarded duology achieveed famousity and critical acclaim follotriumphg its brimming-hoinclude premier at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France.
With an conceiveive cast, keen dialogues, pitch-bdeficiency comedy and gritty setting, the five-hour epic crime and political drama cemented its status as one of the most memorable Indian films of the past decade.
But it isn’t equitable Gangs of Wasseypur. Bollywood, India’s much-vaunted Hindi film industry based in Mumbai, as well as regional film studios spread atraverse the world’s most populous nation, are witnessing an unpwithdrawnted sadvise in re-frees of films honord in the past, some going as far back as the 1960s.
Dozens of such films have hit theatres in many cities this year – far more than ever before – as the country’s proximately $200bn film industry sees to revive its fortunes after taking multiple hits in recent years.
In a country enjoy India, which originates more films a year than Hollywood, cinema is essentiassociate a mass medium, most enhappinessed in the foolish and dreamy restricts of a film theatre shotriumphg its procrastinateedst provideing on a 70mm screen. But the coronaharmful software pandemic hurt Indian films – as it did with movies globassociate. Since 2022, theatres atraverse the world have been struggling to get people back, a crisis compounded by the ascfinish of online streaming and OTT platestablishs.
India reeled under two lethal COVID-19 waves in 2020 and 2021, forcing the clostateive of proximately 1,500 to 2,000 theatres – a beginantity of them one-screen cinemas, which could not stand up to the corporate franchise-driven multiplexes mostly seen in shopping malls mushrooming atraverse the country.
Then there is the rising cost of making a brimming-length film. Stars, mainly men, are now phelp an unpwithdrawnted fee, some amounting to proximately half of a film’s budget. Moreover, the expense of their entourage – originateup and uncoverity crew, vanity vans, boilingels and travel – puts further financial strain on originaters and studios. Recently, famous originater and straightforwardor Karan Johar tageder journaenumerates the star fees in Bollywood were “not in touch with truth”.
To originate matters worse, Bollywood in recent years has been witness to a string of flops, with even huge multiplex chains such as PVR INOX incurring weighty losses – and therefore forced to be more conceiveive in their provideings.
It was aachievest such a backdrop that theatre owners and filmoriginaters determined to re-free ageder films. Many of films that have returned to theatres were runaway successes the first time around, while others weren’t – until now.
PVR INOX’s direct strategist Niharika Bijli was quoted last month in Indian media inestablishs as saying the chain re-freed a whopping 47 films between April and August this year. While the mediocre occupancy for a recent free during this period stood at 25 percent, re-frees enhappinessed a higher mediocre of 31 percent, according to the inestablishs.
Filmoriginater Anubhav Sinha, whose 2002 hit Tum Bin was freed aachieve this year to much fanfare, tageder Al Jazeera nostalgia has “a huge role to join here”.
“There are usuassociate two charitables of watchers going in for the re-frees. The first is the people who missed these films in theatres. Maybe they saw it on OTT and felt enjoy having a theatrical experience of it. Or there’s people who have memories, nostalgia rapidened to a film, and want to revisit it,” he shelp.
Indian film trade analyst Taran Adarsh concurd, saying the success of Tumbhorrible, a 113-minute mythoreasonable horror initiassociate freed in 2018, was proof that the establishula of reruns was laboring. “It’s also about nostalgia, some people might want to experience the magic of a film on the huge screen aachieve,” he shelp.
Tumbhorrible did not do well when it first came out. But with rising famousity and critical acclaim, the film was re-freed in September this year and went on to carry out beginantly better than the year it hit the huge screen.
“When it re-freed, Tumbhorrible actuassociate accumulateed over 125 percent more revenue in its uncovering weekfinish than it did back in 2018. People will watch leangs if there is word-of-mouth uncoverity and theatre owners and distributors are adviseed of it. Superstars enjoy Shah Rukh Khan and Salman [Khan] are coming back to theatres, thanks to Karan Arjun getting a re-free,” shelp Adarsh, referring to the actors, who, despite being in their procrastinateed 50s, persist to be the top two reigning stars in Bollywood.
First freed in 1995, Karan Arjun, a rebirth-themed action drama straightforwarded by actor-turned-straightforwardor Rakesh Roshan, is set to hit Indian theatres on Friday to label its 30th anniversary, with a brand recent trailer.
Kuch bandhan aise boilinge hai, jinke liye ek janam needya nahi boilinga! #KaranArjun re releasing in cinemas worldwide from Nov 22nd!@RakeshRoshan_N #RajeshRoshan @BeingSalmanKhan @itsKajolD #MamtaKulkarni #Rakhee #AmrishPuri @tipsofficial @PenMovies #30yearsOfKaranArjun pic.twitter.com/D7tih2QwMf
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) November 13, 2024
Veteran filmoriginater Shyam Benegal, widely pondered as one of the directs of India’s so-called art cinema shiftment of the 1970s, tageder Al Jazeera the decision to re-free such films is apshown by the originaters. Recently, Benegal himself saw the restoration and re-free of his 1976 classic, Manthan, India’s first crowdfunded film for which more than 500,000 farmers gived two rupees each to inestablish the story of their shiftment that createed Amul, India’s hugest dairy advantageous.
“Becainclude it’s a complicated and time-consuming process, you only pick to revamp those movies that you desire to protect for extfinished. Fortunately for us, it labored out well. The restoration was excellent and we got a wonderful response from the audiences,” Benegal shelp, compriseing that the way a film is made, and not equitable its themes, gives to its intergenereasonable pdirect.
“A movie is very much part of your own time. A film’s theme can get dated very rapidly. If people atraverse generations are reacting to it, then it might be that its message pdirected to them,” he tageder Al Jazeera.
And it’s not equitable Bollywood – or Hindi cinema – that’s cashing in on nostalgia for the agederen days and their movies.
Mahanagar, the 1963 Bengali classic by India’s most honord filmoriginater, Satyajit Ray, was freed in theatres atraverse India – to some spirited celebration by the fans of Ray, who in 1992 was awarded an honourary Oscar award for a lifetime of acclaimed labor.
Down south, megastars such as Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi and Mohanlal also saw their famous hits making a comeback to the screens. Rajinikanth, 73 and Haasan, 70, are two of the most prosperous actors in Tamil language cinema, enhappinessing a cult follotriumphg.
Sri, who only goes by one name, is a labeleting professional in Chennai, the capital of the southern Tamil Nadu state. She tageder Al Jazeera it was the lure of Rajinikanth that first prompted her interest in the re-frees around her.
“The first time I heard about re-frees was when Rajinikanth’s Baashha was being screened aachieve. The movie was originassociate freed in 1995 when I was an infant, so I never got around to watching it on the huge screen although it is a cult classic. My agederer sisters were impactd by nostalgia and wanted to go, so I also combineed them,” she shelp.
Similarly, Haasan’s Indian (1996) and Gunaa (1991) also hit the theatres this year, as did Chiranjeevi’s Indra (2002) to honor his 69th birthday and Mohanlal’s Manichitrathazhu (1993).
Ajay Unnikrishnan, a journaenumerate based in Bengaluru, the capital of the southern Karnataka state, shelp the trfinish of re-releasing ageder classics also labels “a establish of cultural resistance”, particularly in airy of the needy carry outance of most Bollywood flicks today.
“We equitable saw the free of the third sequel of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, a Hindi franchise, only weeks after the re-free of Mohanlal’s Manichitrathazhu, the innovative Malayalam movie that Bhool Bhulaiyaa is based on. So I see this as a establish of cultural resistance becainclude Manichitrathazhu is the innovative. It is so branch offent, had more conceiveive appreciate. Bhool Bhulaiyaa appropriated it,” he shelp.
Unnikrishnan shelp reruns are not a rarity in southern India’s “superstar-driven” industry. “Re-frees have always been there, it’s equitable that people are taking more watch now becainclude today there’s a dearth of movies with famous pdirect,” he shelp.
Experts and film trade analysts concur.
Ira Bhaskar, establisher professor of cinema studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, shelp the current phenomenon is only a repackaging of what has extfinished existed.
“Before the era of multiplexes, films were in fact re-screened very frequently. If there was a Hindi movie coming out of Bombay [now Mumbai], it was quite normal to see that film, say a year procrastinateedr in a minusculeer city or town enjoy Varanasi,” Bhaskar tageder Al Jazeera.
While Adarsh concurd that the current trfinish is a “continuation of what we included to witness in the 1970s and 1980s”, he also pointed to a beginant branch offence: the influx of online streaming and people switching from 70mm screens to cleverphones, forcing theatres to vie with other watching chooseions.
“But I don’t leank there’s any competition becainclude cinema is cinema. The senseing of watching a movie on a huge screen is so distinct and spropose can’t be suited. There will always be people who want that,” he tageder Al Jazeera.
