'Sholay' or '3 Idiots'? Jury out on which one's the all-time top grosser
NEW DELHI: Comparisons could be odious but recent speculation about the runaway success of Aamir Khan starrer `3 Idiots' breaking the record of `Sholay' as an all-time top grosser has only ended up adding to the myth surrounding of the '70s thriller.
While all manner of formulae are devised to quantify `Sholay's' success at today's costs, the answer to whether the Dharmendra-Amitabh film really is the all-time top grosser is itself a beguiling yes and no, fuelled partly by nostalgia and a story that has grown larger in every telling.
But while the jury may be short of clinching evidence over `Sholay', `3 Idiots' has been a stunning success earning business of Rs 315 crore in 18 days, according to `Trade Guide' editor Taran Adarsh, making it a bigger film than recent hits like `Ghajini'. Trade analyst Vinod Mirani agrees and says that `3 Idiots' is the "biggest hit of the decade and by default that of this century''. He adds that the film's net business in two weeks has been Rs 74 crore.
Critics say that comparisons to any film that is over 10 years old are irrelevant. "It is like comparing apples and oranges,'' says one pointing out that not only is there a substantial middle-class today that is willing to splurge but the quality of cinema is quite unrecognisable than what it was 30 years ago.
`Sholay' is estimated to have done business of Rs 30-50 crore -- a range no one can confirm keeping in view the then prevalent practice of excessive taxation, black marketing and a pre-multiplex era. According to economist D K Joshi, if an average ticket price was Rs 5 in 1975, all other things being equal, it would now cost Rs 16.
While computers, phones and TV sets have become cheaper with technology, multiplexes have not succeeded in reducing the cost. Post-multiplex era, there have been several runaway hits including HAHK and DDLJ both of which crossed the Rs 100-crore mark.
Trade insiders, however, admit that the lack of independent data on box office collections that can be verified leads to assumptions that big budgets and earnings are marketing stunts that are limited to a clutch of film producers, distributors, critics and analysts.
