Hansal Mehta on re-releasing his films: Don’t have that money

September has been a month of re-releases. While August had some new theatrical releases to offer, September has seen just a handful. Among them was Hansal Mehta-directed The Buckingham Murders, featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan in the lead. The film is competing with Sohum Shah-led Tumbbad, a film that released in 2018 but failed theatrically, only to become a cult later with its OTT release.
Mehta, who has earlier directed critically-acclaimed films like Shahid and Aligarh, spoke to India Today Digital about whether he is looking forward to re-release any of his earlier films. His films have, over time, also become classics, that are being dissected and discussed by audiences all over the world. However, he shared that he does not have the budget to do it.
“I would love to have them re-released, but re-releasing also is very expensive. I mean the films that have re-released, a lot of money has been spent on re-releasing them,” he told us during the interview.
Pointing out at Tumbbad, which is currently competing with his film at the box office, he said, “The kind of money that has been spent on Tumbbad right now; they’ve more hoardings than Buckingham Murders. The amount of marketing budget that they seem to have put in is phenomenal. And hats off to Sohum (Shah), for putting his money where his heart is.”
“I don’t have that money. I’m a filmmaker who has no other business. So I survive on what I earn. I run my house with what I earn from my labour,” he added.
A lot is also being spoken about Tumbbad beating The Buckingham Murders at the box office. Mehta, who has always opted for limited theatrical releases of his films, admitted that The Buckingham Murders was on a larger scale than his other releases, but still not as much as one would generally expect.
Addressing box office numbers, he told us, “I believe that my producers’ investment should be safe. Before we started this film, we knew that the investment in this film was safe. Most of the money was already recovered and we knew that the theatrical release would be a bonus. But yes, we jointly, the producers and I, decided that we will do a theatrical release; it will be a limited release.”
However, he does not like the numbers being discussed by people who have no stakes in the film. “I have always been vehemently opposed to the box office being discussed by people who have nothing to do with the film’s money. I think you should watch the film for what it is. You evaluate the film for what it is and not make box office the barometer. It just keeps some people’s kitchens running, which is why they reduce the films to box office numbers,” Mehta further added.
The Buckingham Murders was released in theatres on September 13. The film had already premiered at several film festivals before that. It features an exceptional ensemble cast, including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Ranveer Brar, and Keith Allen, among others.