Hansal Mehta says a film’s audience should not be concerned with box office figures – Times of India

Box office collections have always been a touchy topic for the movie industry. In the past, box office numbers were discussed by producers, exhibitors and distributors for business decisions, but now, these figures have become a part of audience interest. Even casual conversations between movie buffs feature subjects on a movie’s collections. Most modern audiences end up equating a film’s box office collection with its quality. If a film has earned a good haul, it’s perceived to be a good film and vice versa.

Hansal Mehta, director of acclaimed films like Shahid, Aligarh, Omerta and the web series Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, recently got involved in a conversation on Twitter over box office collections. Reacting to a Twitter user’s deliberations on authenticity of box office figures, Hansal wrote about how box office collections should be a producer’s private concern and the audiences should only be focussed on whether the experience of watching the film was worth the price of their ticket. Viewers should not be debating if the price of a star should go up or down.

Hansal wrote, “Bottom Line : A films box-office is nobody’s business. It impacts ONLY those involved in the film in various ways that are purely transactional and essentially private.

STOP JUDGING FILMS BY B-O NUMBERS. Terrible films sometimes make a lot of money and good films make less money. Focus on your experience of the film as an audience and not on the film’s collections. Focus on whether the film was worth the price of your ticket not on whether the price of the film star should go up or down.”

Multiple users jumped into the online argument, some supporting Hansal, while others sided with the other Twitter user, emphasising that box office collections are a direct indicator of a film’s popularity and audience validation. Manoj Bajpayee aslo joined the Twitter thread and supported Hansal’s stance.

Hansal Mehta is gearing up for the next big ticket web show titled Scoop. Scoop is inspired by Jigna Vora’s biographical book, Behind The Bars In Byculla: My Days in Prison, it stars Karishma Tanna in the lead role.