What Manoj Bajpayee has to say on'Joram' earning little in Theatres?

Manoj Bajpayee is hands down, one of the most talented and finest actors in the Indian film industry. The lead actor of Devashish Makhija’s Joram, Manoj Bajpayee, recently opened up about the need for appreciation and support for films in the wake of the limited turnout the movie has received. He also voiced his concerns about the preference for mainstream entertainers, defining them as “real cinema”. Adding that the current trend poses a potential threat to the art form itself, Manoj asserted that there is a need to appreciate and support films that push creative boundaries. Bajpayee, in a conversation with Jist, while discussing his film’s box office performance, said, “No one here must have watched the film and it is a possibility. We had purposely limited the number of theatres because we wanted to see if the audiences’ brains worked in the same way as ours, or if they only wanted to watch other films.” He went on to say that those who actually went to watch the film liked it and promoted it by word of mouth.

“But the majority of the people don’t believe in such films, and even if they want to, they would want it for free. They are the same kind of people who will take a loan to watch other films. Our fight is about this. We want to see how interested people are in watching the kind of films that we make,” he added. Want to tell stories that will linger in the audience’s mind Delving into his cinematic philosophy, the Aligarh actor expressed that he prefers films that provoke thought rather than merely give entertainment value. He emphasises telling stories that linger in the audiences’ minds for days. Further stating that releasing Joram in theatres was an experimental decision, the Family Man actor added that it was to assess the audience’s interest in watching the film on the big screen. Despite having very affordable ticket prices, the turnout was not as expected. Stating that it was released on only 350 screens, compared to other big films that got 5000-6000 screens, Bajpayee called it a “successful venture” with around 15-19 lakhs daily. The actor will be seen next in the thriller _Killer Soup_ with Konkana Sen Sharma.