A NEW LEASE FOR OLD FILMS

NOSTALGIA AND CURIOSITY BRING AUDIENCES BACK TO THE THEATRES TO REVISIT MOVIES OF THE YESTERYEARS

- SUHANI SINGH

Rohini Kapur Alva was 10 and a half when she watched Karan Arjun, the 1995 Shah Rukh-Salman Khan-starring reincarnation drama, the first of the three times she'd see it that year in Minerva cinema in what was then Bombay. "I saw it in a paisa-vasool, seeti-maar environment," she recalls. "A few scenes are still deeply etched in my mind. Like the 'Bhaag Arjun Bhaag' one and the 'Jaati Hoon Main' song in which Kajol dances in the stables in an electric blue backless dress." Three decades later, the now 40-year-old SRK fan eagerly awaits the film's re-release in cinemas on November 22.

With no new SRK film releasing this year, Kapur Alva is eager to revisit an "iconic" film. "I will go to enjoy the experience with other SRK fans," she says.

Karan Arjun joins a long list of Hindi films having a second run in cinemas this year. They include SRK's star-crossed romance Veer Zaara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and the Sohum Shah-produced period horror Tumbbad, which turned out to be one of the year's biggest surprise hits, making four times the money it did in its original run in 2018.

From classics like Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar to Ranbir Kapoor's Rockstar and Wake Up Sid, and soon the Shah Rukh-Aamir starrer Andaz Apna Apna, older films are returning to the screens as audiences like Kapur Alva revisit old classics, even if it's on a streaming platform. Cinemas are only too happy to oblige, allotting yesteryear films screens as well as shows.

SECOND CHANCES

Re-releasing films is now an integral part of PVR INOX Ltd's programming. And driving their decision is not "nostalgia showcasing" or "filling in lean weekends", says their lead strategist Niharika Bijli, but the "diverse" audience you cannot overlook.

"There's the nostalgia audience who wants to experience a film with someone new," she elaborates.