Recently, producer Pranay Reddy Vanga of 'Animal' and 'Arjun Reddy' fame said that several Bollywood films opt for corporate bookings to inflate Box-Office figures. It has been alleged that blockbusters like 'Jawan' and 'Pathaan' as well as others like 'Brahmastra' resorted to bulk bookings in recent times.
What is the fuss about? How is it wrong if a corporate entity does bulk bookings? Aren't the collections real (although not organic because a single customer is doing it)?
Saran Raparthy, the Executive producer at Geetha Arts and Allu Entertainment, says that those bookings are done by the concerned producer himself. "They use the word corporate booking, but the producer himself books the tickets for a certain Day 1 number to be achieved and this is incorporated in the marketing budget of the Bollywood film. This is the worst I have seen when I worked in Mumbai for a couple of years," he writes.
The producers of 'Animal' made it a point to avoid corporate bookings. "Had we done something like that, our movie would have grossed Rs 1000 Cr by now," he said.
