Team Kaatera releases Rs 200 crore box office poster; but does the math add up?

Kannada superstar Darshan Thoogudeepa’s Kaatera is, by all accounts, an industry hit. The Tharun Kishore Sudhir directorial received positive word-of-mouth feedback from critics and audiences and was praised for heralding the return of Darshan the performer. Like other big-ticket releases, much of the narrative on social media about Kaatera was about its box office figures. Several fan-made posters claiming record collections made the rounds, which, producer Rockline Venkatesh had to dispute at one point and state they were not true.

The latest that has a section of netizens up in arms is a post claiming that the film has broken into the Rs 200 crore club and recorded 1 crore footfalls, which the film’s writer Jadeshaa K Hampi also shared on his timeline. Another claimed that 20 lakh tickets were sold in week 4, accounting for Rs 49 crore. These two are now being disputed, with some industry trackers stating that the figures are being grossly inflated.

According to the estimates of Sacnilk, in its three-week theatrical run, Kaatera is said to have made Rs 65 crore, while Kannada box office puts it in the vicinity of Rs 100 crore, adding that the film’s theatrical share is in the region of Rs 45 crore to Rs 47 crore. The week 4, 20 lakh ticket claim is also being disputed, as this would mean tickets sold at Rs 240 on average. This, say trackers, is highly unlikely, as the bulk of Kaatera’s theatres are single screens, where ticket rates are normally maxed out at Rs 200 for balcony, with lower rates applicable in other sections of the hall.

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Fan groups of other actors, meanwhile, used this opportunity to ignite a new online war and rebuking the fake claims. Responses to Jadeshaa’s posts were tagged to the income tax department, which, they hope, will not only reveal actual figures but also put an end to fake ones. Some posted screen shots of empty halls on ticket booking sites, wondering how the team was claiming such massive collections on week days. 

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In a year-ender round-table discussion a producer-distributor had wondered why audiences were so invested in box office figures, when they should ideally only be bothered about whether or not the content of a film was worth investing Rs 200 odd on a ticket.