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This Twitter Thread Sums Up Why Our Obsession With Box-Office Numbers Needs To Stop

Should audience even care about how much a film made?
A still from YRF's Thugs of Hindostan
YRF
A still from YRF's Thugs of Hindostan

Yash Raj Films' Thugs of Hindostan, a film that brought Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan together, released over the Diwali window but didn't quite pull in the big numbers.

While the film is almost unbearably bad and the numbers, for once, corroborate that thought, there have been numerous instances where our obsession with box-office numbers have overpowered the conversations around the artistic merit of the film itself.

In the case of Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet, the conversation was entirely driven by the film's mammoth budget, how it will recover the cost, and whether the opening day collections will break any previous records or will they set a 'new low' for lead star Ranbir Kapoor.

How much a film makes at the box-office is hardly an indication of its quality. The pre-release marketing blitzkrieg often ensures a steady opening but it is only the power of positive word of mouth that can sustain a film's run, ensuring longevity, inside and outside of theatres, which is key to understand a film's cultural impact.

Both Badhai Ho and Stree are examples of relatively smaller budget films that went on to do unexpectedly well, crossing the fabled Rs 100-crore mark. But should the audience even care about how much a film makes at all? Does anyone remember how much Andaaz Apna Apna or a Mughal-e-Azam made? Why are we so obsessed with numbers?

Filmmaker Atul Sabahrwal put out a vital thread that spoke about the pointlessness of obsessing over box-office numbers and how it has turned into a marketing game by the studios.

Film critics nodded in agreement.

Raja Sen of Hindustan Times said:

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express said:

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.