‘The Kashmir Files’ trounces all competition

The new Akshay Kumar starrer Bachchan Pandey has been received with a shocking lack of enthusiasm by audiences. And the film’s team has only itself to blame for the cold reception. Apparently after Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files continued to grow massively at the box-office even post the weekend of release, the producers of Bachchan Pandey   had been advised to postpone their March 18 release. But they did not relent. Arrogantly confident that an Akshay Kumar starrer can take on the non-star Kashmir Files they pushed along with their release plans. With near-disastrous consequences. Personnel from three different multiplex chains informs that the advance booking for The Kashmir Files in the second week is at least 150 percent stronger than Bachchan Pandey’s opening-day collections. Suman Sinha a respected single-theatre exhibitor in Patna says he has never seen anything like The Kashmir Files in his entire experience of 40 years as an exhibitor. “We did not release The Kashmir Files on March  11  in my  theatre. It was a mistake that a lot of us exhibitors made. We didn’t realize what a Tsunami The Kashmir Files was going to be. We instead released Radhe Shyam which was a disaster while Kashmir Files grew from strength to strength with every passing day. We have now released The Kashmir Files, dictated by the terms and conditions of its distributor during our negotiations, from the week beginning March 28,” says Sinha. He says the ‘Tsunami’ will affect not only Bachchan Pandey but also Rajamouli’s long awaited RRR that follows next Friday on March 25. Speaking on the spectacular success of The Kashmir Files trade guru Taran Adarsh says, “The Kashmir Files has found immense love and appreciation from the paying public. The houseful boards across the country are proof enough that the film has worked big time at the box office. From East to West and from North to South, the film has gone from strength to strength with each passing show and day. The film had a very limited release on Friday, but, gradually, the word of mouth caught up and the screen count as well as the box office collections started zooming upwards. The super success of The Kashmir Files clearly indicates that the audience wants to watch a good film in cinemas. Mind you, this film had to face a mighty opponent in Radhe Shyam, yet it overtook Radhe Shyam on Day 2 itself. That says it all.” Trade analyst and producer Girish Johar adds, “The Kashmir Files has from its very first day had a very strong undercurrent. The film is very hard hitting and gut wrenching which was bound to hit the audiences hard. And it did precisely that. Happy that the audiences took it very positively and has accepted the film with open arms. Also, from trade perspective it destroys all the present talks of star power, that OTT only giving good content and niche films won’t work at BO. It’s honestly a very heartening development will give huge confidence to small and   medium content -driven cinema.” Trade analyst Atul Mohan feels The Kashmir Files has gone much beyond a film. “It has become a movement now! After long we have a film that projects nothing but truth. I won’t call The Kashmir Files a film but an important chapter from history which we all should watch. It makes you think about Kashmiri Pandits and their pain. Now that our PM has also endorsed it there will be no stopping it.” Maharashtra’s exhibitor Akshay Rathi adds, “What’s happening with The Kashmir Files is the best thing that could happen to our pandemic-paralyzed entertainment industry for a while. Everyone had started thinking that smaller films with no star-value are only apt for the OTT platform. That myth has been busted and crushed to dust by The   Kashmir Files. Vivek Agnihotri understands the pulse and politics of the nation. This is a huge victory for content-driven cinema and I hope more films   up the ante when it comes to respecting the audiences’ time money and intelligence. I am extremely happy to see The Kashmir Files marching ahead so confidently. I wish them many weeks of success.” Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.