LOCKDOWN !

HOW A FLOP FILM LIKE
"ENGLISH MEDIUM" CHANGED ITS MEDIUM OF RELEASE AND CREATED BOX -OFFICE HISTORY
DURING THE
LOCKDOWN!

Ali Peter John

Sometimes the cruelest and crying circumstances can come up with the most unexpected solutions. History is replepe with stories to prove this reality of life ...

This is the story of a film called "English Medium " starring Irrfan Khan , Radhika Madan , Kareena Kapoor , Pankaj Tripathi and Dimple Kapadia among others . It was a sort of a sequel to the earlier film "Hindi Medium "which also had Irrfan Khan and had created a stir among the discerning audiences and even at the box office ."English Medium "was directed by Homi Adajania.The film was shot without a break and completed within the stipulated time and before the makers could think about releasing it , Irrfan was diagnosed for a rare kind of cancer and had to spend several months in hospital in America and the release had to be held back .

Irrfan had not fully recovered , but his interest in the film was so complete that he came back in time for the release . He couldn't take active part in the promotion of the film , but he made sure that he took to his twitter handle make an emotional appeal to audiences about "English Medium" .The appeal was so moving that it had more than twenty nine million views and the makers were excited about releasing the film . But , by then the first signs of COVID 19 invading the world could be felt and India was not far away .

Producer Dinesh Vijyan and Director Homi Adajania , however went ahead and their distributors released "English Medium"on March 13 ,2020 and were in for a big shock when the film fell flat on its face on the very first day and did not recover for the next three days and had to be taken off the theatres it was released in . It was a major set back for all , but the biggest shock was for Irrfan Khan , the sick actor who had put his life into the film.The makers who had invested thirty six crores in the making couldn't even recover thirteen crores and were caught in a bad fix What could they do to save the film and themselves ? There were other big films like "Sooryavanshi"and "Sardar Uddham Singh" were held back because of the scare of the word of mouth appeal of "English Medium "and the growing and deadly scare of COVID 19 ...

Vijayan and Adajania did not lose hope in their favourite "child" (English Medium). They thought of re-releasing the film, but on second and many thoughts later , they realised that re-releases didn't work .They finally decided to release "English Medium"online.They got to work seriously and soon had Adobe premiere pro and Amazon prime video OTT , some digital platforms , Disney hotstar and Disney OTT working full time to get "English Medium"released online . All the publicity material that was used for the release of the film , including the appeal made by Irrfan was used for online too . All this worked like magic and people who were lost in because of the pandemic showed great enthusiasm in watching the film.To add to their enthusiasm ,was the offer of monthly and annual subscription. When last heard of , "English Meduim"is reported to be one of the biggest hits online and has raked in crore of rupees .Is it the making of the crores that is more important or the clever decision taken by man with cool minds under the most tough circumstances ?

English Medium and its release online is going to be a subject that will be talked about in the time to come.There are any number of big and good films lined up for release . And going by the way things are(Lockdown has been further extended till April 30), there is no remote chance of any of these films being realised in theatres soon. The filmmakers who have spent crores of rupees making their films , will have to spend many more rupees in paying the intrest taken on that money.Why not forget their egos and do what Dinesh Vijayan and Homi Adajania have done and changed a "flop film into a film that brings not only big success , appreciation , praise from the press, but even the big bucks ?
There is a saying in hindi,"Manushya paristhitiyon ka dass hota hai "which means man is a slave of circumstances.Why not be a good slave of the circumstances (COVID 19 ) we are all living in today , my filmmaker friends ?