With 80 lakhs as the 'making' cost, 'Shahid' emerges a Plus film
- IndiaGlitz, [Tuesday,October 22 2013]
After a struggle for last so many months, 'Shahid' has finally been released in theatres, courtesy UTV picking it up and ensuring a respectable arrival. As expected, the film - which has already travelled quite a few film festivals and won terrific critical acclaim - has seen many accolades coming its way in India as well. With all around positive reviews hailing the film as one of the best biopic that have been churned out in Hindi cinema, it has managed to achieve what it was set out for.
Meanwhile, from commercial standpoint too, this Hansal Mehta directed film has turned out to be a safe venture, what with 2 crore coming in the opening weekend itself.
There was hardly any cost of the film's making, informs a trade insider, 'Shahid' was wrapped up in mere 80 lakhs. In fact most of the cast and crew member didn't even charge a penny. They did it for the love of the story and the protagonist, on whom the film is based.
Further to that, only around 2 crore were spent in the marketing as well as print & publicity, hence resulting in the film costing under 3 crore.
The idea was to get the promotion rolling through word of mouth. Moreover, it was an all-digital release, due to which there was no money spent on physical prints, which otherwise turns out to be expensive, says a source attached to the film, With satellite as well as other ancillary rights ensuring that 3 crores were conveniently recovered, whatever that comes in from theatrical release is a bonus no less.
As per UTV, more than anything else, the film now stands as a catalogue affair which ensures a prestigious addition to it's repertoire of niche cinema that includes the likes recently released 'The Lunchbox' and 'Ship of Theseus' to name a few.