Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na: A love story 29 Dec 2008 | 444 Views | admin
27 Dec 2008, 0320 hrs IST, Nandini Raghavendra
Blockbusters are expected to rock the box office. That is why they are called that. And then comes a movie like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na (JTYJN) which scripts a success story few can match. Jaane Tu is not the first small budget movie nor is it the first one to make it big. Yet, besides hitting the jackpot at the box office, it has entered the portals of the love story movie which becomes a near cult status like Bobby, Love Story, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to name a few. When Imran walks out of a Yahoo site right into your face, a new generation of teeny bopper girls has swooned across the globe. Or when he sings Hai Popular Hai Muscular or sways to Pappu Can't Dance, a song which when launched on the net, got scores of netizens crazy and was granted instant cult status much before the film’s release.
Though Jaane Tu has not made on a shoe string a budget like Bheja Fry (Rs 53 lakhs), its Rs 8 crore (plus another Rs 4 crore for marketing) is modest and as its co-producer Aamir Khan says, recoverable. So, when it ends up with a gross of Rs 77 crore it has both co-producers Aamir and PVR Pictures ecstatic to say the least. Add that it ranks number four on ibosnetwork, for the year’s top grosser, just behind Jodhaa Akbar, Race and Singh Is Kinng, all three which had big budgets, big stars and big publicity.
Among the few movies that Aamir Khan Productions Limited (AKPL) has produced, Jaane Tu was the smallest film and was also the first movie which did not star Aamir himself. Though, it did have the full backing and branding of the actor behind it. The obvious reason was of course his nephew Imran’s debut. Secondly, Aamir is known to be extremely particular about anything that has his name attached to it. “It is important that a movie is able to cover its cost and no one should lose money so when a movie like JTYJN does well it earns huge money for its producer specially when you take a ratio of cost to profit,” says Khan, speaking from a producer’s point of view.
Business may definitely not be Aamir’s calling but he is well aware of the numbers related to his industry and how they work and he patiently explains the same. Released with around 250 prints in India and maybe close to 70 abroad, JTYJN success was largely scripted in the metros, though Aamir says it did work with the youth in B and C towns as well. Since both the producers, AKPL and PVR Pictures distributed the film themselves, they did not need to share the sum of approximately Rs 22-23 crore which came to them, with an additional Rs 16 crore from TV18 for satellite rights, Rs 3 crore from music (minimum guarantee and overflow), Rs 2 crore from overseas rights sold to UTV and home video which added another crore from T Series. All of which adds up to Rs 45 crore which gets equally split between the two producers.
Even as Aamir rattles of all these numbers, he explains that at AKPL, it is always the script which must work for him first and yes, it must fit within a workable budget. Few movies in 2008 can match this ratio of cost to profit for sure, says Aamir as he moves into AKPL’s next three productions among which he promises is a movie with an even smaller budget of Rs 2 crore, which is his wife Kiran’s project, which will spring many a surprise. For now, its time to dons the actor’s hat once again and move on from his blockbuster hit, Ghajini to Raju Hirani’s next—Three Idiots.
"As actors, we all want our audience to like our work; so even if you ask me this question after five years I will say yes I want to work harder and harder to be loved by my audience."
~ Imran Khan
