The cinema hall erupted with applause when the character Ganga appeared on the screen during the screening of the Malayalam film ‘Manichithrathazhu’. But, no, this isn’t a flashback from 1993, it happened just last week, in 2024. The audience started cheering for Shobana, who essays Ganga. Why is it worth mentioning? Because, every single person in that cinema hall, has watched this particular scene, at least 10 times before booking tickets for this re-release.
In recent times, the re-release trend kicked off after the coronavirus pandemic with Mohanlal’s ‘Spadikam’, soon followed by classics like ‘Devadoothan’ and ‘Manichithrathazhu,’ with many more timeless films set to join the lineup.
Re-release of films is fun, but restoration?
Bhadran, the director of ‘Spadikam’, started working on the re-mastering prior to the pandemic, but the film was re-released only in 2023. While revisiting old films in the theatres could be a nostalgic trip down memory lane, the restoration and re-release is a time-consuming process. “Restoration is a long process. It is time-consuming, as we have to go shot by shot. During the remastering of ‘Spadikam’, there were portions, where music came along with some of the dialogues. Re-recording, or dubbing the dialogues, or any kind of rework is impossible in such portions. There we can only work on the ambiance sound and the music that we hear on the peripheral speakers. The biggest challenge for my team while converting ‘Spadikam’ into digital 4K Dolby Atmos was to preserve its quality, without losing its soul,” Bhadran says. The director also shared that the remastering process cost him around Rs 2 crore.
Re-release of Mohanlal, Thilakan, and Urvashi starrer ‘Spadikam’ was well received in the theatres, and needless to say, it was a profitable venture for the makers as well.
Underrated films gaining traction and big bucks at the box office
Sibi Malayil’s directorial ‘Devadoothan’, a horror fantasy thriller featuring Mohanlal and Jaya Prada in the lead roles first hit the theatres in 2000. Though the songs and performances were appreciated, the film didn’t resonate much with the audience, in other words, “The film was ahead of its times.”
Cut to 2024, ‘Devadoothan’ got re-released, and it broke the box office numbers of ‘Spadikam’ re-release by earning Rs 5.2 crore in 17 days. So what really made the then box office flop a success now?
Sibi Malayil states that the re-release of ‘Spadikam’ really gave him confidence, and over the years, ‘Devadoothan’ started gaining a cult status amongst the audience as the film was really ahead of its time. “Devadoothan was not well received during its initial release, but today’s audiences are talking about how the film was ahead of its time. After Spadikam was remastered and re-released, there was a buzz about Devadoothan being next in line for a re-release. With the public opinion being that the film would be more relatable to audiences if it were to be released now, the remastering took off,” Sibi Malayil recalled.
Sibi Malayil also made sure to curate the content for the audience today, which is why he edited out around 36 minutes from the old movie, during re-release, without affecting the emotion of the film. He shared, “We have edited out some parts that are not relevant to the film now. There were some commercial elements that were added in back then because they were the demand of those times, but now, we have removed them all, keeping a stronger focus on storytelling. But it won’t affect the film at all as the comedy and action portions have become outdated now.”
Banking on nostalgia
At a time when new releases tend to struggle, re-releases are bringing in the big bucks. Trade analyst and industry tracker Sreedhar Pillai observes that the irony of the situation is glaring. “Mohanlal’s recent crop of films has not been getting the kind of appreciation and box-office success his earlier films got. Suddenly out of the blue veteran producer Siyad Koker re-released his Sibi Malayil-directed ‘Devadoothan’, a film ahead of its times but a box-office dud when it was first released in 2000. 24 years later the Mohanlal starrer technically updated to 4K and 28 minutes trimmed has been lapped by the audiences and collected an impressive Rs 3.2 crores! It has become the highest-grossing re-release film in Kerala beating last year’s Spadikam record,” he said in a note shared on X (formerly Twitter).
So what really is the secret behind the success of the re-releases? This brings us to the beginning. Why are the audience really cheering for Ganga (Shobana), or laughing at the comedy of errors made by Unnithan (Innocent) during the ‘Manichithrathazhu’ re-release? Great performances? Sure, but also nostalgia. Sibi Malayil puts it this way, “The idea of watching an old film that they have only seen on smaller screens with improved quality in theatres is what draws people to re-releases.”
Re-release trend here to stay
Kamal Gianchandani, Chief of Business Planning & Strategy, PVR INOX Limited, and President of the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) observes that the re-release fever is not going to fade anytime soon. “Like the trend of pan India films, this trend is also here to stay. We have been doing re-releases for a long time. Sometimes they are done as fillers, on other times there is some strategic or topical reason to do a re-release. The kind of box office numbers that re-releases are doing on a regular basis, we won’t be surprised if it becomes a regular part of programming,” Kamal Gianchandani states.
When asked if the theatre owners look at re-releases as additional revenue or is it plain nostalgia, he adds, “Both, rereleases are serving our audiences and their need gaps, it could be nostalgia or increase in popularity of an actor who has been around and has a body of work or something topical. As exhibitors, our job is to serve all segments of our customers. Increase in revenue is a by-product.”
Re-releases in other industries including Bollywood
R Madhavan’s film ‘Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein’ was re-released in theatres on August 31, 2024, and was well received by the audience. The actor confesses that he is baffled, “The craziness and the involvement of the audiences in the theaters is something that is so baffling and at the same time so charming to see. People don’t mind the fact that it’s not technologically up-to-date the fact that it’s 23-year-old content, which has been offered repeatedly in all TV channels, social media as well as OTT platforms many times over. They are still coming to theaters for the community-watching experience… paying good money and to watch a love story that resonated with them for 23 years. What is more incredible is that there are teenagers and kids who are barely in their teens are also coming to watch the film and singing along and preempting the dialogues during the shows in the theaters. I am truly baffled and don’t know what to make out of it. I’m too grateful and overwhelmed to be able to process it now.”
In Bollywood, the re-release phenomenon is creating miracles. Case in point, Triptii Dimri and Avinash Tiwary starrer ‘Laila Majnu’ directed by Imtiaz Ali earned significantly more than its original run.
“Re-releasing the old successful Hindi films in India is not a new phenomenon. In good old Single Screen days, whenever there was a dearth of new releases, they used to host the reruns of old classics, like ‘Mughal-E-Azam’, ‘Baiju Baawra’, ‘Prince’ and ‘Sholay’ which used to do good business. Now that business vertical is diminished owing to a mammoth library of old classics found on OTT Platforms. With time, the need is changed. Now, it is more of a filler phenomenon rather than a focused business plan. With more than 4 screens in a particular cinema chain, it becomes difficult to accommodate the fresh content in Megaplexes. So is the need of re-releasing to justify the programming in the screen count. While the lack of flow of fresh content needs the re-releases, the second reason is the brand recall. If ‘Gadar’ re-release creates a brand recall a week before the release of ‘Gadar 2’, then ‘Stree’ would do the same, and ‘Bhul Bhulaaiya 2’ will also do the same before the release of ‘Bhul Bhulaaiya 3’. The third reason is nostalgia with evergreen classics like ‘Sholay’ and ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’ and ‘Rockstar’. Also, the retrospectives with Amitabh Bachchan classics and the re-release of ‘Laila Majnu’ after Tripti Dimri became a national crush is just toeing the line. The gist is that it is more of a necessity owing to lack of content and will disappear as soon as the content comes showering in cinemas,” Kamal Gianchandani shares.
Well, the re-release trend hasn’t died down yet, nor it will in the near future. The re-release fever has only started in Malayalam, and Mammootty’s ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989)’, Mohanlal’s ‘Devasuram (1993)’, ‘Aaraam Thampuran (1997), and Prithviraj Sukumaran’s ‘Anwar (2007) are set to follow.
