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In showbiz, what defines a successful film? A gripping story told well, an impressive star cast, and outstanding performances? Not anymore. In 2025, success of a film is dictated by how much money producers, studios, and banners are willing to pump into creating the illusion of a blockbuster.
Recent box office trends indicate a troubling scenario where inflated figures and bulk bookings mislead audiences, making certain films appear as hits when the reality is far from it. Taking the case of three major releases in January 2025—Ram Charan-Shankar’s Game Changer, Akshay Kumar’s Sky Force, and Shahid Kapoor’s Deva—SCREEN spoke to film trade experts to decode the growing trend of block bookings and how the entire system operates.
Speaking about Bollywood’s lacklustre box office performance in January, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi said, “Among the major releases, Sky Force performed reasonably well compared to his recent films. Apart from that, no film performed well. We had high expectations from Deva, but unfortunately, it didn’t live up to them. Game Changer was an underperformer. Everyone expected a lot from Ram Charan, especially since it was his first solo release after RRR, and with a visionary director like Shankar at the helm, but the film fell short. That was disappointing.”
Film trade analyst Komal Nahta echoed this sentiment. “When a film fails, it’s because the content isn’t appreciated. The films released in January simply did not offer what the audience wanted,” he said.
Some industry insiders claimed that Allu Arjun’s highly anticipated Pushpa 2: The Rule affected other films’ performances, but Nahta dismissed this notion: “That’s just an excuse. We’ve seen multiple films release on the same day and still become blockbusters—like Lagaan and Gadar, or Gadar 2 and OMG 2. If a film has strong content, it will work regardless of competition.”
Rathi concurred, saying, “Pushpa 2 had no impact on these films. Every film has its own trajectory. If Game Changer or Devaa underperformed, it was solely because they lacked the merit to bring the numbers we expected.”
Bollywood has been facing a difficult phase at the box office, and while Chhaava seems to have broken the slump, one successful film alone cannot save the industry.
Commenting on how the films performed in January, Nahta said, “The first quarter doesn’t look promising. The films that have been released so far haven’t performed well, and there aren’t many major releases lined up in the coming weeks. If Pushpa 2 hadn’t been released in December and made most of its business in January, the quarter would have been even worse. Chhaava is looking strong, though.”
Rathi said, “Every film industry has had a slow start this year. Last year, two major films—Pushpa 2 and Stree 2—were outlier hits. While those films did well, the industry as a whole is not going through the best time.”
Why do producers inflate box office figures? Naturally, the primary objective is creating a perception of “success”. Today, at a time when even the public seem to care about “how much films made,” producers add a few crores to films’ credit to falsely declare it hits, hoping to convince people that their movies are doing well and worth watching, creating a self-fulfilling cycle of deception.
One of the key strategies used for this deception is “block booking” or “bulk booking”—where large numbers of tickets are bought in bulk to artificially boost films’ earnings. According to Rathi, this practice doesn’t provide any real benefit: “Inflating box office numbers beyond a point doesn’t help anyone. It’s common for brands associated with actors to buy tickets in bulk and distribute them among clients or employees. That’s fine—it’s an age-old practice. But outright fabricating figures serves no purpose because audiences, trade partners, and streaming platforms eventually learn the truth. Those who do this are only fooling themselves by declaring wrong numbers.”
Nahta was even more critical: “Inflating box office numbers is a disgusting trend. It’s been going on long before Game Changer. In fact, Sky Force exaggerated its earnings even more—while it made Rs 40 crore in the first week, the makers claimed it had earned Rs 80-85 crore. Empty theatres were falsely declared “Housefull”. On some platforms, if you book a ticket for Rs 300, you get Rs 250 as refund, which is another way to boost numbers. Everybody is thinking of their interest, inflating collections, and showing it’s a hit, but nobody is thinking or bothered about the film industry as a whole. It’s all selfish producers who do these things.”
According to Nahta, actors, producers, and studios are all responsible in equal parts for this practice. He explained why it is done: “One, to give the perception that their film is a hit, to fool the trade and the public. The public thinks it’s a hit film, so they go to watch it, and makers get the benefit of footfalls. Many stars do it to create hype around them to charge several crores extra for future brand endorsements. The advertising companies and brands come thinking they are working with a big star, but if they get to know the truth, they will not pay what they are willing to pay. Producers and studios do it for the same reason; to show that a hit film has come from their banner. This industry is all about showmanship, but people forget that.”
Nahta elaborated on the system behind block bookings, revealing a well-organised network that orchestrates ticket purchases: “This level of block booking trend is new. Earlier, block bookings would amount to around Rs 7-10 crore, a trend started by a superstar a few years ago. But this year, Sky Force did block bookings worth Rs 40 crore—an unprecedented amount. Agents are hired to coordinate with corporate houses, who then receive formal invitations to book tickets for their employees and families. These agents specialise in distributing bulk bookings, arrange an audience for watching the film, and they charge a commission for their services.”
A few months back, when director Anurag Kashyap said Bollywood is doomed, we wondered what he meant. Is the end really near?
Nahta doesn’t think so. “I don’t think Bollywood is doomed, but it needs to be cautious. Substandard content will no longer work. Earlier, rich content paired with a star-studded cast could carry a film, but today’s audience has access to world cinema at the click of a button. Their expectations have risen, and writers and directors need to pull up their socks,” he said.
Rathi, on the other hand, is confident that Bollywood’s future is not at all in the dark and that its people will have the industry’s back when needed. He said, “Bollywood has faced crises before. When Amitabh Bachchan took a sabbatical, people wondered what would happen to the industry. Then came Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Aamir Khan, who carried the industry forward. When these superstars pass their prime, I am pretty sure Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Tiger Shroff, and Vicky Kaushal will take this baton forward. Every time we think Bollywood is doomed, someone steps up and saves the day. That will happen again.”
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