Every time a movie has an unexpectedly big hit, as Drishyam 2 has, the upcoming movies have to contend with the intensity of the smash from the prior week.
On March 11, 2022, The Kashmir Files became an unexpected box office success. A week later, on March 18, the Akshay Kumar-starring film Bachchhan Paandey was a total flop.
“Audience ka ek mood bann jata hai jab film chal jaati hai. They wanted to see The Kashmir Files, no other film that came in the weeks after. Similarly it is with Drishyam 2. The film has caught on like wildfire. I don’t think audiences want to see anything else right now,” says Roshan Singh, a leading film exhibitor from Bihar.
He recalls the debut of Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. “It played in my theatre for fifty weeks. For several weeks and months, people avoided other releases.
The same problem arises in Varun Dhawan’s werewolf role in Amar Kaushik’s Bhediya. The Drishyam 2 performances from Friday are not being cancelled by multiplexes in favour of Bhediya.
“Why ought we? We finally got a superhit after so many months of starvation. Why would we want to forgo an established, popular movie in favour of a fresh one? Bhediya could, for all we know, become a popular film. On condition of anonymity, the manager of a well-known multiplex says, “But not right now, thanks. He also revealed that the Bhediya producers, Maddock, are exerting every effort to secure the most screens.