Bihar’s Bhojpuri audience goes crazy for Pushpa 2

Bihar’s Bhojpuri audience goes crazy for Pushpa 2

“Did you think I am a flower because my name is Pushpa?” a cinema lover quipped before entering into the Regent Theatre located near Gandhi Maidan to watch Pushpa 2: The Rule. The cinephile was standing beneath a specially designed banner of 46×20 feet poster of the movie.

The Allu Arjun-starrer has been drawing crowds to the Gandhi Maidan area since November 17, when the trailer of the film was launched here. At the time of the trailer launch, thousands of people had gathered to catch a glimpse of Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna.

The Bhojpuri crowds have gone crazy over the Telugu movie which is attracting large crowds in the 450 odd single-screen theatres across the State. Films from the south of India have always done good business in Patna but even across the smaller cities in the State including the likes of Arah, Sasaram, Biharsharif, Rajgir, Chhapra, Hajipur, Dehri, and Gaya.

Leaving aside a few Bollywood movies like Stree 2 and Gadar 2, movies like KFG 2, Kantara, and the most recent Devara has performed exceptionally well in Bihar. In Patna alone, Pushpa 2 has a 105 shows screened daily. And if theatre owners are to be believed, 7 a.m. shows at Regent Theatre was houseful on first, second, and third day even during the bitter winters of Bihar. 

The price of the ticket on weekends is between ₹200 to ₹430 and weekday shows are priced at ₹160 to ₹300. The demand can be understood from the fact that at some theatres, touts were selling tickets at a premium of ₹800. 

As regards to box office draw, Pushpa 2 has become the first film to collect ₹two crore in the last two days; this a gross that exceeds even pre-pandemic ticket sales.

“I will not mind paying even ₹1,000 for watching Pushpa; his dialogues just make me crazy. I wanted to watch this movie on the first day of the first show but did not get the ticket. We are five people and today we have decided to watch it at any cost. Forget Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, Allu is the real hero for me,“ Nilu Kumar, a resident of Rajendra Nagar locality at Elphinstone theatre in Patna, said.

Mr. Arjun had expressed his gratitude to the people of Patna by tweaking his famous dialogue in broken Hindi by saying, “Pushpa bows down to no one but will do so before you.”

Asked about why movies from India’s south do well in the Bhojpuri speaking State, Bihar based film critic Vinod Anupam told The Hindu, “People of Bihar always loved watching south Indian movies; Pushpa is out now but people in Bihar have been watching Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies dubbed in Hindi on television from a long time. Before the pan-India acceptance of Allu Arjun, people in Bihar already knew and loved him as a star.”

Mr. Anupam further said, “Like other States, Mr. Arjun did not work hard to make a new audience in Bihar because people already knew him very well. By coming to Bihar and launching the trailer he gave recognition to his Bihar fans, who in turn migrate from watching him on television screens to witnessing him in a theatrical experience. It was a morale boost for his Bihar-based fans. Mr. Arjun has a grassroots audience unlike the Hindi-language films which mostly cater to the multiplex and urban class. Bihar has 13 crore population and everyone has a mobile. His fans watch him not only in single-screens but also on mobile phones.”

He asserted at least two% of the box office collection comes from Bihar.

Suman Sinha, owner of Bihar’s oldest single-screen Regent Theatre, freely accepted that Pushpa 2 has earned him the maximum profit of any movies he has put up.

“Watching this movie will take you back to the 90s. It also gives the feeling of angry young man Mr. Bachchan sahab of Deewar, Don, and Zanjeer. I, as a theatre owner, have watched his movie three times so far because every time, I realised that I missed one dialogue or scene or an emotion. The best part due to which the audience is liking is convincing action. He has already given a message in the Hindi heartland by launching the trailer from Patna. These days Bollywood movies lack content due to which south Indian movies are becoming pan Indian films,” Mr. Sinha said.

At the box office, Pushpa 2 has already crossed over ₹400 crore globally since its release.