Zee’s ‘Radhe’ gamble tough to pull off as theatres remain out of bounds
Premium- Until Wednesday, BookMyShow was not taking any booking for Radhe anywhere as multiplexes had earlier decided to boycott the film for simultaneously releasing online
NEW DELHI : In what may be bad news both for film theatres and film distributor Zee Studios, Salman Khan's Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai will make its debut on pay-per-view service ZeePlex and streaming platform ZEE5 without any sign of the latter recouping its more than ₹200 crore it paid to acquire the film immediately. Radhe, co-produced by Salman Khan Films, sold all distribution, satellite TV and digital rights to Zee as part of a deal that included some older Khan movies, this January.
While it will be a washout Eid for theatres that remain shut owing to state-imposed lockdowns, even Zee has little reason to cheer the digital debut of the film.
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1 min read . 01:11 AM IST“It’s definitely a very dull Eid that’s completely missing the noise and hustle that a Salman Khan film usually brings," Atul Mohan, editor of trade magazine Complete Cinema said. Traditionally, Eid could bring in as much as ₹50 crore on the opening day.
Until Wednesday, BookMyShow was not taking any booking for Radhe anywhere as multiplexes had earlier decided to boycott the film for simultaneously releasing online. Besides, it wasn’t clear if multiplexes were open anyway owing to lockdowns. A film trade expert requesting anonymity, said, as of Wednesday, less than 10 cinemas across India had committed to play the film, ensuring negligible domestic earnings. Khan’s earlier Eid releases such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and Sultan made more than ₹200 crore each on the box office.
Yet Zee, which is premiering the film on ZEE5 and ZeePlex, is confident about what it calls a high-impact blockbuster. Part of the enthusiasm stems from the opening of overseas territories such as the US, UK and UAE which have been starved of Bollywood fare for over a year and where Khan’s film will have a wide release.
Plus, Zee owns the satellite TV and digital streaming rights for the next few years, which can be exploited in the long run.
“While we want to ensure the film reaches theatres wherever possible, we’re democratizing access for people to also watch it comfortably at home in a safe environment without having to set a time," Manish Kalra, chief business officer, ZEE5 India said.
The film will be available for a one-time watch for ₹249 on ZeePlex from 13 May. Existing Zee5 subscribers can also watch the film by paying an extra ₹249. The company also introduced a special "Radhe Combo Offer", allowing viewers to watch Radhe along with a one-year subscription to ZEE5 for a price of ₹499.
Kalra said the pay-per-view model hadn’t undergone a fair test in India so far and Radhe would be the first mainstream film to deliver and prove the strategy is here to co-exist with the theatres. “About 65-70% of our content consumption happens on big TV screens," Kalra said, referring to the need for big-ticket properties to engage family audiences.
Shariq Patel, chief business officer, Zee Studios said, “Given the current situation, we believe it is the right time to provide greater width to films, allowing people to choose what they want to see." He said while concept films for niche audiences may do well on pay-per-view platforms, a mass-market film like Radhe, for which they have opted a hybrid release, could notch up very high numbers.
“Hence, we are looking at developing an environment where along with the theatre, such options can co-exist. The concept of subscriptions was also once new, but it has picked up. And no time better than now to see how TVoD (transaction video on demand) works its way through with the viewers," Patel added.
However, for now, not only are domestic box office prospects of Radhe dim, a trade expert who did not wish to be named, pointed out that the film’s trailer and songs were yet to generate any buzz and “going by the response to Zee’s previous TVoD release, Khaali Peeli, they should know paying ₹250 to watch a film at home does not feel the same as paying to watch one in the theatre."
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