Social media, a buzzkill?

Almost every Friday, a film is released and you’re keen to know if it’s worth the money you splurge on tickets and popcorn. You go on to the social media to check what everyone’s saying. Most reviews are bad and you eventually decide not to watch it. This has become quite a common phenomenon now. Whatever the buzz online, more often than not, the box office numbers speak otherwise.

Sometime ago, actress Samantha was a bit taken aback about the negative reviews coming in for her film Janatha Garage. But the film went on to be one of the biggest blockbusters of her career. Even Ram Charan’s Racha faced a similar fate with buzz suggesting it wouldn’t work, but it was a box office hit.

“The audiences’ state of mind is very simple. They just want to have fun. The views you see online are mostly the result of exposure to world cinema and in our audiences, there is a very small percentage of people who have such an exposure. In fact, for a film to be successful, 100 per cent from the acceptance of the audience isn’t needed. Even 60 per cent works in its favour,” says producer Dil Raju whose recent film Shatamanam Bhavati was deemed as average first, but turned out to be a blockbuster.

Social media buzz for Appatlo Okadundevadu (left) were great, while Janatha Garage (right) didn’t do so well online, but box office earnings for both were the complete opposite

A director, on condition of anonymity shares, “It’s slowly becoming evident that critics on social media do not enjoy commercial cinema. They use words like ‘routine’ and ‘run-of-the-mill’ to describe them. But what they don’t understand is that these films tend to rake in good moolah at the box office. Unless and until the audience has been too vexed by a formula, a la the Kona Venkat-Srinu Vaitla one, they won’t reject the film outright.”

He adds that a film might seem like a blockbuster on social media but may not make money at the box office. “Take Pelli Choopulu and Srirasthu Subhamastu for instance. Online, it would seem like Pelli... is highly successful while the film could infiltrate only some niche markets and A-centres. A film like Srirasthu... had a wider reach and made more money,” he explains.

Likewise, several films with great buzz online such as Manamantha and Appatlo Okadundevadu were appreciated widely, but couldn’t perform well at the box office.