‘Peepli Live’ scores but doesn’t hold on

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August 22, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Ok, so by now we have read and heard about how Aamir Khan’s Midas touch ensured that ‘Peepli Live’ turned into a success. However, what is not being spoken about is that the movie is a success primarily on the basis of all the moolah that it gained in it’s first three days. Nothing wrong with that, after all what matters is whether audience, industry and trade benefited from a film’s release or not. In that aspect, the fact is that yes, ‘Peepli Live’ did give something to everyone.

But then the truth also remains that despite all the media hype, terrific reviews and very good word of mouth, ‘Peepli Live’ exhausted it’s target audience in the very first three days itself. Post that, the film did see a fall over the weekdays and hasn’t quite turned out into an ‘event’, something which was being perceived before and around its release. Result is collections in the tune of 22 crore which is terrific by all means but not quite looking at adding something further substantial that would make it look like a ‘lambi race ka ghoda’.

In this aspect, Aamir Khan has played a smart game. While art house cinema like this normally sees a select release and then stays consistent at box office week after week, Aamir treated ‘Peepli Live’ as just commercial outing and ensured that there was enough moolah that was gained in the first 3 days itself. Nevertheless, his production house now has yet another hit film to it’s credit in recent times (after ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa’) and all eyes would now be on ‘Dhobhi Ghaat’.

‘Help’ has flopped with absolutely no craze around it in the urban centres at the least. It did find some audience in the smaller towns and B & C centres, the territories where such films do work to an extent. However, that by itself wasn’t great enough either with ‘Peepli Live’ hogging all the limelight. In any case, the makers of ‘Help’ have only themselves to blame. They never promoted the film enough and this Bobby Deol and Mugdha Godse starrer looked doomed even before the release. With collections that failed to touch even 2 crores mark, sole consolation for ‘Help’ comes from the fact that it is a low budget flick which means that the losses to the investors would be minimal.

– Joginder Tuteja / Sampurn Wire