Bollywood Information

Anurag Kashyap's Ugly after almost a year of delay has finally hit the theaters today. The movie was screened across various international film festivals receiving rave reviews for the story and the performances. Having released a week later a big flick PK, here is what the trade experts have to say about movie's business and the release date strategy.



Tarun Tandon [M.D Indra Films, Nizam and Andhra]: If the content of the movie is good, it will definitely perform, because it has got a holiday period. Ugly is going to be tested on the content. I don't see a big opening for the movie, because it's a small movie and it's been promoted in a very limited scale. They should have started the promotions way before. Anurag Kashyap's small movies have always performed, and for its budget, I think, Ugly will do pretty well and see a decent figure at the Box-Office. PK's performance has been fabulous, but still Ugly is seeing the release and is getting shows everywhere, though less number of screens, but they are not missing out on the holiday period. So I think coming a week later is not a bad call. Probably getting more screens, but not having a holiday period compensates. Coming a week later is not an issue, but having released with PK would be a major issue. However, 2nd January 2015 would have been a better day.
Akshaye Rathi {Exhibitor, Mumbai}: There are a few like The Lunch Box and other small movies that have done phenomenally well, but Ugly doesn't look like that. It's way too niche a film for the numbers to be significant. PK is going to have a phenomenal sustenance of shows and screens in the second week in the multiplexes, as barring a rare few in the metros, PK won’t be showcased much in the single screens. Hence, Ugly will have two to four shows in every multiplex property. But, I don't know if that's good enough to do phenomenally well. It will do fine with a very niche audience but, I don't see it going much beyond that.

Out of a blue, Anurag Kashyap's much delayed Ugly is all set for release today. With just a 10 day window for the film’s promotion, the thought is indeed noble to spend less on marketing.
Having said that, it is pretty much a wait and watch scenario to see if the gamble indeed pays off. After all, PK is doing great guns whereas Ugly doesn't have any star face to fetch audience for itself. It would all boil down to word of mouth.
Now that could still be fine enough for a feel good affair as such films have a bigger chance to grow on the basis of news spreading fast about their worth. However, Ugly is a dark film and hence is aiming for a niche audience to begin with.
As things stand today, the film can't really expect an opening per se, and it would actually be a surprise in itself if it indeed manages to register an impact the box office.