Bollywood’s Box-Office Botox Job: How Makers Fudge Numbers With ‘Inorganic Collections’ and Why Trade is Wary

On the eve of Dhurandhar’s release, actor Yami Gautam fired off a blistering note on X, calling out the growing practice of paying for “marketing” that’s just manufactured positivity, and the accompanying threat of sustained negativity if one doesn’t comply, labelling it as “extortion.” While her tweet found instant resonance as it highlighted a problem that has long been crippling the Hindi film industry, trade insiders pointed to another rot spreading through the system, which needs urgent dismantling: box office tampering.

Post-pandemic, some producers and actors have indulged in buying large chunks of their own films’ tickets to manufacture the impression of a blockbuster. It is a desperate act, often stemming from a space of insecurity, which the trade says is done to break certain box office records or to drum up perceptions.

THR India, which had released a video on this topic earlier this year, reported that the scale of the “feeding” often involves buying “lakhs of tickets”.

How is it done?

The tactics usually differ. Often, stars request brands they endorse to buy large volumes of tickets through their corporate networks, in exchange of their fee. "For example, if a star charges ₹1 crore for a brand, they ask to be paid ₹50 lakhs and ask the brand to invest the remaining ₹50 lakhs in buying tickets," explains a trade source.

Some producers, insiders claim, buy tickets in bulk and then distribute them to fan clubs—scattered across the weekend to create the illusion of sustained demand—or hand out free tickets to housing societies, schools, corporations and other groups to ensure seats aren’t visibly empty. This is loosely called 'corporate booking'.

"This is a very formal arrangement where agents are involved," trade critic Komal Nahta had explained the modus operandi to THR India earlier this year, adding that the makers sanction an agency to book and distribute "bulk tickets" on a commission basis.

"Logistically, it's impossible to distribute the tickets, which you have block-booked. So then you need agents and hence it's a racket," Nahta explained.

A trade source explains that if a film, which has come under scanner for “inorganic” collections, has its opening day figure as ₹50 crore, the audience is likely to have paid only ₹40 crore, with the remaining ₹10 being “pumped" in by the producer.

“Half of that returns to them as distributor share, while the other half stays with the cinemas. So, they will get ₹5 crore back and the other half will be accounted in the books as ‘marketing’ expense," the source explains.

How can you spot corporate bookings?

The easiest hack is to check an online ticketing platform. If, for example, the 8:00 AM show is nearly full, but the 8:30 AM show in the same theatre is empty, it’s a clear sign of block booking.

A leading exhibitor told THR India, “We now have local representatives—‘cinema inspectors’—who verify whether shows marked house-full on ticketing platforms are actually full. For midnight screenings, especially, they often find auditoriums nearly empty. They record the footage and send it to us!”

The exhibitor said they can spot rigging when there’s an “abnormal surge” in advance sales. “We usually know how a film is tracking before release, so any sudden, disproportionate jump is an immediate red flag. Another tell is when a major, high-footfall cinema shows weak bookings while a smaller, less popular one is inexplicably packed.”

Once a producer indulges in rigging the collections, they have to continue "feeding the box-office" for at least a week to maintain the film's momentum to make it look "organic," explained the source. "Sometimes, a good film picks up on its own after the initial push and then the feeding considerably goes down during the weekdays, and if it is a bad film, then the feeding usually stops after the first weekend itself," they added.

Who benefits from box-office rigging?

The primary benefit is perception. Media reports the inflated numbers, as it is coming as “official” figures, which creates a public perception that the film is a hit, and the star, director, or producer walks away with an artificially enhanced image and a renewed demand for a fatter pay cheque.

“It serves ego more than business,” Nahta had earlier said. “Inflating the box-office is a very disgusting trend that needs to be condemned by every person who loves the trade and the film industry. It is a self-defeating exercise. These producers or stars who are resorting to this practice are only selfishly thinking of themselves and their films. Nobody's thinking of the industry. This practice is going to cost the industry and it already has because the star prices are going to go up. Every star is going to demand more than he deserves because you helped them achieve that fake status," he added.