Bollywood is investing in what the profession calls reckless and dangerous box office rigging with perception control. The internet calls it corporate bookings and self-buying.
Best type of self-love? Hindi filmmakers and actresses may humbly say: Buying movie tickets. The first six months of Bollywood have been quiet, with no blockbusters and tentpole flicks failing. However, producers continue to invest in what the profession has called reckless and dangerous box office manipulation with perception control. The internet calls it corporate bookings.
Bollywood had a record 2023 after overcoming the post-COVID slump. Blockbusters including Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Jawan, Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2, and Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal broke records. The box office discourse changed when industry insiders whispered about 2023 movies using corporate bookings and self-buying to boost collections. This created the internet commerce buzzword “organic collections” last year.
Indianexpress.com spoke to numerous industry insiders to understand self-booking, where producers buy tickets from their own pockets to boost box office numbers and misrepresent their movie. The practice gained popularity post-pandemic and peaked last year, but trade experts say growers are so desperate they are leaving their footprints.
At least four blockbuster Hindi films this year self-purchased, reflecting the “inorganic” money thrown in by the numbers, according to various industry insiders Indianexpress.com talked to. A major picture that tanked at the box office tried to increase advance booking ticket sales to a milestone and then continued the pattern on opening day. The movie was dead upon arrival, but the feeding lasted for a few days before it crashed.
Self-buying improved first-day sales for a mid-level star’s picture this year. The producers discontinued it after the opening since they realized box office feeding wouldn’t help. A flop film. Self-buying was criticized on social media in another inspiring drama. When it was evident from advance booking that their picture would start poorly, the makers invested Rs 8 crore to boost it.
“The trend of self-buying is very harmful, and it will damage the industry,” veteran exhibitor and distributor Raj Bansal told Indianexpress.com. “This happened earlier but stopped. The last three years have seen a robust recovery. The trade hates this; it’s unhealthy for everyone,” Bansal raged.
