The calls and e-mail messages start flowing early in Toronto one Sunday evening, and the producers of new big budget films won't have an idea if their films are on their way to being a hit or an also-ran film or a flop till they have pored over the weekend figures from New York, London, Dubai and in recent weeks, Australia.
In the case of films that are on shaky ground in India, the anxiety over the film's performance shoots up considerably.
"When we set out to make a film we are not telling ourselves that we have overseas audiences on our minds," says filmmaker Mani Ratnam whose film Guru has grossed about $22 million of which about $4 million came from abroad.
The international market for the film was led by North America where it grossed nearly $2 million.
"But foreign grosses, which are often driven by movies with stars, do matter to us a lot," Mani Ratnam adds. Just about 40 percent of the Hindi language films made in India (out of some 150 a year) reach audiences in the lucrative territories of North America and the United Kingdom where they could gross in a year about $30 million.
When Mani Ratnam's Dil Se was declared a flop in India many years ago, despite Shah Rukh Khan playing the lead and hit music by A R Rahman, the filmmaker's career was saved by the singular fact that the film grossed over $3 million abroad and recovered its cost.
This time, with Guru doing phenomenal business in India, its strong overseas business came as a big boost.
Also read: Straight from the Guru's mouth
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