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What does even the term ‘100% organic star’ mean? Does it say that the star’s film has earned all the collections through organic sources, or does it imply that the collections displayed aren’t inflated or manipulated at any level? With Salman Khan recently getting the tag of ‘100% organic star’ for Tiger 3 by many on X (Twitter), it raises the question of, “Are other big actors not organic stars?”
Shah Rukh Khan fans took this to their hearts and started showing proof that Pathaan & Jawan were ‘organic’ hits, too. Before getting into who’s organic and who’s not, let’s first understand what are those things that could be inorganic in the success of any film.
The first ‘buzzword’ you might be hearing a lot about on the internet just before the release of Salman Khan’s Tiger 3 is ‘corporate bookings.’ Have you ever tried to book a film’s ticket online and suddenly see a huge chunk of seats/shows booked at one theatre, whereas other theatres for the same movie are behaving pretty vacant? That’s big companies doing ‘corporate bookings’ aka bulk bookings for either distributing amongst their employees as a ‘treat’ or just to go seats vacant.
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Why do these companies do ‘corporate/bulk bookings’? Who’s paying them?
The majority of the time, it’s about creating an illusion. Yes, the illusion that any XYZ film works inreally well, seeding the thought of ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out on a good movie). Because, if you as a viewer would see ‘housefull shows’ of any film, you’ll get the temp to watch it as well.
But, there are certain ‘organic corporate bookings’ as well because a lot of companies do genuinely book the seats for their employees. But then, how to spot who’s organic and who’s not? Usually, during big event films (like Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, Pathaan, Salman Khan’s Tiger 3), if you see bulk bookings being made, you can still understand a company could think of making their employees watch it. But, if you see bulk bookings for a film that’s been panned left, right, and center like Ganapath (no, we’re not claiming Ganapath did it; it’s an example), you’ll have to activate the Spidey Sense; place your left hand on your waist, do some hand movement in the air with your right hand and say “Daya! Kuch toh gadbad hai!”
Just going by human behavior, people love to see big event films in theatres, and that’s why a corporate booking for such movies is still believable.
But is it fair to do corporate bookings for any film? Tiger 3 following the suit?
If it’s an organic booking, it’s definitely fair, which means the movie was successful in attracting the audience through whatever means. So, if you ask us, movies like Shah Rukh Khan’s last 2 blockbusters, Jawan, Pathaan, and even Salman Khan-led Tiger 3 won’t fake the corporate bookings scenario because there might genuinely be some companies who’d want to gift tickets to their employees as a part of entertainment activity.
But, then, the question of “Whether they can inflate the figures to push the collection to an XYZ number?” is a grey area. Vivek Agnihotri, in our exclusive interview, recently said about the box office figures ‘scam’ and said, “Scam nahi hai, aisa koi bol sakta hai kya? Ek aadmi khade hoke bolde ke sab sahi chal raha hai, kuch gadabad nahj… main challenge karta hoon… Koi yeh bol de ke Youtubers, reviewers, trade analysts ka ecosystem bina paise diye chalta hai toh I’ll take my words back.”
Are Shah Rukh Khan & Salman Khan not ‘100% organic stars’?
There’s no such thing as 100% organic stars. The system Indian cinema has created owing to the brash connection between the stars and their fans; sometimes, things might get out of hand to prove even a mediocre project as a classic. Salman Khan & Shah Rukh Khan are the two most loved stars across the nation, and they won’t need any inorganic marketing to push their films, but tagging them as ‘100% organic stars’ might be a bit of a stretch.
Tiger 3 is just a few days away from its worldwide release, and the only thing we, as fans of Indian cinema, should wish Salman Khan all the best for his comeback as Blockbuster Khan, the Salman we all missed.
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