Gujarati blockbuster Chaal Jeevi Laiye is the only re-run to do well so far

The concept of repeat run used to be very popular once upon a time. Films like Ghayal (1990), Bandit Queen (1994) and, of course, the much older Sholay (1975) have done extraordinary business when re-released a few years or even decades after the original release.

As time passed, however, this concept became obsolete as the accessibility of films on digital media and on television grew. The number of films released in cinemas across languages, too, has increased, reducing the need of theatres to re-run earlier releases, though the practice still exists.

When cinema halls reopened on 15 October in many parts of the country after a seven-month gap, they faced a severe shortage of new content, something they are still struggling with. That left them no option but to go back to the practice of showing old films. Some of the biggest hits of recent times got re-released but, as expected, given the continuing pandemic, footfalls were not encouraging.

One Gujarati film, however, has been the outlier. Chal Jeevi Laiye (2019), the biggest Gujarati grosser, set records and benchmarks like never before when it was released on 1 February last year, stunning the trade. No one would have guessed at the time that the Siddharth Randeria-starrer would run in theatres for more than a year, becoming the first of the new millennium to complete a golden jubilee run of 50 weeks.

The film, in fact, continued to run till cinema halls were asked to shut down in mid-March. Thereafter, it was expected that the film would be premiered on television and digital platforms. But that did not happen and it’s back in cinemas. And so — surprise, surprise! — are the audiences.

Ritesh Laalan, CEO of Coconut Motion Pictures, the production house that made this film, admitted he was “very surprised”. He said, “I got a call from Inox Raj Imperial in Surat the day it was re-released, 15 October. They told me that 80 tickets have been sold. That was unexpected on a Thursday evening. The person stated that the shows of all other films had been cancelled. It was only Chaal Jeevi Laiye that managed to open. That is the luck of the film.”

Chandresh Daftary, regional director (west and east), PVR Cinemas, said, “This film had been released last year and even then it had done extremely well. There has been a lot of anxiety due to the COVID-19 situation. This film, meanwhile, is all about positivity and how to deal with life. This is the reason that we were conscious and confident of programming this film. And rightfully so, we have got a good response from all the cinemas where we have programmed Chaal Jeevi Laiye.

“Not just in cities like Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat but also in smaller centres like Anand, collections have been picking up. We are continuing the same number of shows that we had programmed the previous week.”

Daftary added that the film is one of the top choices for the private screening initiative of PVR Cinemas, wherein the whole auditorium can be booked for a reasonable price of Rs1,999 or Rs2,999.

Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer at Inox Leisure Limited, said, “We are running at only maximum 50% occupancy but most of the shows of Chaal Jeevi Laiye get sold out. We have sold more than 1,000 tickets at Inox Raj Imperial in Surat. At Inox Reliance Mall in Rajkot, we have sold around 600 tickets. At Inox Crystal Mall in Jamnagar, we have sold almost 400 tickets.”

Chaal Jeevi Laiye has done particularly good business at Inox Raj Imperial since the very beginning and had been screened continuously there since its release.

Not just in India, but also the world over, cinema halls have been compelled to re-run old films on reopening and, as may have been expected, have not done great business. Chaal Jeevi Laiye is one of the exceptions.

PV Sunil, managing director at Carnival Cinemas, said, “I can’t speak about the world but in India, definitely, it is a film that is doing extremely well in these post-COVID times. No other re-released film has been able to attract viewers. However, Chaal Jeevi Laiye is doing great, as if it’s a newly released flick. Of course, there is a 50% occupancy cap, but considering that, this film is doing very well.”

Chaal Jeevi Laiye is the story of a workaholic son who takes his terminally ill father on holiday to the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to fulfil his last wish. On the way, they meet a young woman named Ketki and the trio undertake the most unexpected but satisfying journey of their lives.

Starring Siddharth Randeria, a star of Gujarati theatre and cinema, along with Yash Soni and Aarohi Patel, the film has been directed by Vipul Mehta with music by popular composer duo Sachin-Jigar. Even the Hindi film industry has noticed the film and praised it. Notable among them was Madhuri Dixit, who tweeted in praise of the film on 22 May 2019.

When it was first released, Chaal Jeevi Laiye set records outside Gujarat as well. It ran for 26 weeks in Mumbai, which has a large Gujarati population. Surprisingly, it had a good run in Pune, Nashik and Kolhapur as well where it ran for 15, eight and four weeks, respectively.

The film also made its mark overseas when it was released on 15 March 2019. As per Rentrak, it earned about $130,000 in the USA, $53,031 in the United Kingdom, $81,814 in Australia, $13,159 in New Zealand and $25,000 in the rest of the world. The total overseas collection of the film stands at about $3,03,004, or Rs2.14 crore.

Surprisingly, the film was also released in non-traditional markets for Gujarati cinema like Germany, Singapore, Canada and many African countries and even in these places it did well. The film's domestic net collection is close to Rs42 crore, according to the makers, and counting.

But it would not be correct to say the producers are laughing all the way to the bank, for they are now donating their entire proceeds to charity. Producer Rashmin Majithia had told this writer in September last year, “From the 100th day, whatever the film will earn will be used in the service of old people.”