Lights, Camera, Scoop: Chaos Behind the Release of 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' and Casting 'Operation Sindoor'

On the Fence

After a relentless month-long promotion cycle, the makers of Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi's Bhool Chuk Maaf suddenly pulled a U-turn. Two days before the film was being readied for a theatrical release, the producers—Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films and Amazon MGM Studios—announced that they were releasing the romantic-comedy on Prime Video a week later instead, on May 16.

Naturally, the industry was divided.

Speculations flew in from all corners, including that the actors weren't informed about the change in plans. A bigger section within the industry started suggesting that the decision to shift Bhool Chuk Maaf from cinemas to OTT was not entirely rooted in the geopolitical realities of the country in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, but concerns over the audience's reception to the film.

They claimed that the makers of Bhool Chuk Maaf realised, in the week of the release, that the film — despite all the promotions and a recreation of a popular track — wasn't "hot" enough as it had sold only 5000 tickets before the theatrical plug was pulled.

The movement in sales signalled an opening day in the range of ₹3.50 crore, which was lower than all Maddock Films' movies—except for Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video—that had released in the last three years. The only major film of the production house that had opened to around the ₹3 crore mark was Janhvi Kapoor-led Roohi, which was a controlled pandemic release. The makers of Bhool Chuk Maaf were hoping that their film would open to at least the ₹6 crore mark.

The last-minute move, however, angered exhibitors across India, and reliable sources say that heads of top exhibitor chains were extremely unhappy. Many registered their grievances with Vijan, as they scrambled to arrange refunds and change programming.

But another section insists that the makers of Bhool Chuk Maaf did the wise thing. The ticket sales were "decent" as it was not supposed to be an advance-heavy film anyway and relied more on word-of-mouth to kick in. But for that, the audience had to go to cinemas in the first place, and in the current climate of uncertainty and fear, the movie was running the risk of not attracting a sizeable crowd.

The section maintains that postponing the film made sense, but going to streaming was perhaps motivated by a better, lucrative deal by the platform, as well as the fear of the film getting leaked

"Instead of Bhool Chuk Maaf, if they had a big spectacle film up for theatrical release on May 9, would the makers have pushed it only to drop on OTT the next week? Never," an industry source says.

"They would have waited it out to still ensure a theatrical outing for a big film. But with mid-sized films, this becomes tricky. The decision was factored in, keeping in mind all variables, financial and otherwise. It will anger the exhibitor community, but then let's see how much Raid 2 collects at the box-office this weekend. If the film takes a dip from its estimated projection, the answer will be clear: No one is in the mood to watch films on the big screen now," the source adds.

Do You Have a War Film?

While the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, more than a dozen filmmakers sitting miles away in Mumbai were grappling with another crisis: Who would get to register the title Operation Sindoor first?

As reported, several high-profile names sent in their applications—sources say production houses of John Abraham, as well as Uri: The Surgical Strike helmer Aditya Dhar, were among those—in a bid to stake claim on the title.

While that was happening the morning of India's military attack, some impatient producers picked up the phone and started shopping for "ready-made" war scripts, which could be tailored to turn into an Operation Sindoor motion picture.

Several writers were flooded with inquiries, with producers "just checking" if they had any script available or if they were following the geopolitical tension closely enough to flesh out a script.

Some, as a producer joked, even went a step ahead to discuss the "casting" of a probable Operation Sindoor film, debating if it should be headlined by a male star or two female actors, playing Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh from the Indian Air Force, who briefed the media about the operation.

The clamour continues, even as a sensible section of the industry closely monitors the situation to decide what to do with the films lined up—and if it is a good option to promote films in the climate.