The re-release season is going on in full swing and tomorrow, September 13, will see the release of some more older titles like Tumbbad (2018), Veer-Zaara (2004) and Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003). The latter is a special and one of its kind film. For most moviegoers across the country, this film is simply remembered as the debut vehicle of Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh. But in many centres of Maharashtra like Latur, Solapur, Amravati, etc., the film has a cult following. Bollywood Hungama spoke to trade experts and local residents of these places and they all had one thing in common – screen this film anytime and it’s guaranteed to run with house full shows! The makers cleverly never released the film on any digital platform or premiered it on satellite. Its VCDs or DVDs also were never manufactured. This further added to its collections.
Analyzing the UNBELIEVABLE repeat run of Tujhe Meri Kasam: How it CHALLENGED Salman Khan’s Dabangg in its opening week and SAVED cinema halls from getting shut
Sanket Porwal, a resident of Mumbai, is originally from Solapur and he has witnessed the craze for Tujhe Meri Kasam first-hand. He wrote in a blog in 2012 that he saw the film 6 times between 2008 and 2011. He further said in the blog, “A theatre with a capacity of 500 + seats screened the film in September 2008 and the shows ran house full. During the tussle between multiplexes and producers in the summer of 2009, the theatres were starved of content. Tujhe Meri Kasam proved to be a godsend. I remember it was also played during the IPL season in March-April 2010.”
He added, “One theatre didn’t get to screen Dabangg (2010). As expected, he put up Tujhe Meri Kasam. And believe it or not, despite huge competition from a Salman Khan starrer, it was running with 70-80% occupancy.”
Sanket continued in the blog, “It also ran for 9 weeks between April 29, 2011 to June 30, 2011. When I shifted to Pune, I realized that even there, the film has managed to generate a craze.”
A Latur resident told us, “The film wasn’t screened anywhere, on TV or OTT. Also, the hero is a localite. That made the film all the more exciting. The print used to be blurry and yet, we used to enjoy it. I have seen it 3-4 times and can watch it again anytime. Tujhe Meri Kasam in a way is to Latur what Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge is to Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir!”
When asked why there’s such a huge following for Tujhe Meri Kasam, he replied, “It’s not an extraordinary film but it has a feel good factor. It shows the relatable lifestyle of the characters. Genelia looked lovely in the movie. Riteish looked very young and was damn good. Even Shriya Saran is there in the movie. Whenever it would be played, it would go housefull.”
Amit Dadhich, an ardent Mumbai-based movie buff who runs the very helpful Mumbai Subtitles Database handle on social media, said, “I can never forget my experience of watching Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2012 in Latur. There were scratches on the print and yet, no one minded. The show was sold out and the audience was mouthing dialogues from the film and even humming the songs.”
Experts speak up
Trade analyst Atul Mohan revealed, “It used to be played at Chitra Talkies, Amravati. Until before lockdown, the film would collect Rs. 1 lakh or even Rs. 2.5 lakhs in a week. We’ll be surprised when we used to see the collections. Even the big films used to not collect as much!”
He added, “If a newly released film failed to get footfalls, exhibitors used to replace it with Tujhe Meri Kasam. It’s a movie that saved so many theatres from shutting down.”
Film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi said, “We have a cinema in Amravati where Tujhe Meri Kasam has released multiple times and every single time, it has done huge numbers. It used to be shown in slots when there were no major releases.”
He remarked, “Tujhe Meri Kasam is an interesting case study. I challenge you to find me its pirated print! You won’t be able to do it. This is because the film, for the longest time, was not even digitized. It essentially stayed on prints for some reason – maybe it was a political will or lack of digitization process that prevented piracy. It never even premiered on streaming platforms or satellite channels. That’s the reason that whenever it comes in cinemas, it is one of those feel good films that people turn up for.”
The lack of digitization also prevented its reach. Akshaye explained, “It was only on print and the print projectors are now available in very few cinemas.” But now Tujhe Meri Kasam has been digitized for its re-release.
Box Office talk
Despite repeated attempts over a period of 1 ½ years, Riteish Deshmukh remained unavailable to comment on Tujhe Meri Kasam’s extraordinary run. However, the box office collections and trending give a fair idea about the film’s performance.
Tujhe Meri Kasam had a poor opening of just Rs. 16 lakhs and its first week collections amounted to Rs. 1.08 crore. It held very well in the subsequent weeks and had limited falls. Until its tenth week, it collected Rs. 4.75 crores. The lifetime collections of the film are expected to be around Rs. 8.93 crores. This means that it earned the balance collections of nearly Rs. 4.17 crores from select centres in Maharashtra from week 11 to date. Hence, the re-runs made the film a profitable venture.
Taran Adarsh recently told Bollywood Hungama, “Mera Naam Joker (1970) was a disaster when it was released, and made a lot of money during the repeat runs.” This way, it won’t be wrong to say that Tujhe Meri Kasam joins the league of Raj Kapoor’s classic!
Also Read: “Tujhe Meri Kasam still plays in theatres across Maharashtra during Diwali,” says Riteish Deshmukh while talking about his debut film
More Pages: Dabangg Box Office Collection , Dabangg Movie Review
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