The film industry is rejoicing the extraordinary advance booking of the Salman Khan starrer, Tere Naam. The film, due to open this Friday (August 15) took the entire film trade by surprise with historic window takings on Monday (August 11), the day its plans opened.

Bombay and Delhi witnessed heavy crowds at the plans windows, comparable to the advance booking of films like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…and last week’s Koi…Mil Gaya. Cities like Meerut had never seen it so good. All records of the last five years were broken with serpentine queues outside Nandan cinema on Monday morning. In the first two hours of the ticket-windows opening, tickets worth Rs. 3 lakhs had been sold, a feat not even Gadar Ek Prem Katha, K3G, Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon or Koi…Mil Gaya could boast of.

What was the reason for the almost unprecedented advance booking of the Tamil super-hit Sethu remake? Surely, the audience couldn’t have been excited that it was the remake of a blockbuster. For, umpteen other remakes of South films have taken dismal initials in the past. Frankly, the point about remakes makes a difference only while selling the film to distributors. Beyond that, the initial of a film is not governed by the fact that it is or isn’t a remake.

What’s more, unlike films like K3G, which starred half the film industry, Tere Naam had just a Salman to sell itself. Even the heroine, Bhoomika Chawla, is a rank newcomer for the Hindi cinegoer. No doubt, she is a successful heroine down South, but, like the point of remakes, this too doesn’t hold much meaning for an average Hindi cinegoer.

There were several factors that led to the phenomenal ticket sales of Tere Naam. For one, the songs of the Salman starrer have become huge hits. The simple lyrics, very Indian in thought, have won the hearts of the music buffs. Himesh Reshammiya’s tunes have actually seen the album selling like hot cakes. Why, music stores even reported a decline in the sale of music cassettes of the earlier hottest selling film album, Koi…Mil Gaya once the music of Tere Naam was released in the market. Secondly, although the only saleable star in the film is Salman Khan, his film is coming to the theatres after a gap of more than a year.

Therefore, the long wait of his fans to see their idol after such a long time is translating itself in the form of a bumper opening. Thirdly, the promotional trailers of the love story give the impression that the film offers ‘something different’, that one quality in a film that is being sought by a majority of cinegoers fed up of routine stuff. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the trailers had done the trick no sooner they went on air on the various satellite channels. Yes, Salman’s different hair style in the film did come in for criticism from some quarters, but that could hardly be expected to come in the way of a flying start to the film.

But, perhaps, the most important factor for the wonderful advance booking is the Salman sympathy wave sweeping the nation currently. From being everybody’s favourite punching bag - and not without reason, - the controversial star suddenly seems to have become everyone’s darling, again for comprehensible causes. For one, his second brush with law in the hit-and-run case followed by his imprisonment won him public sympathy more than hatred even though he was accused of causing the death of one person.

Close on the heels of that accident came the news that Aishwarya Rai had called off her affair with him. Again, although the actress revealed that Salman used to beat her up sometimes, the sympathy after the break-up went to Salman, not to Ash.

Thereafter came his controversy with Vivek Oberoi, in which the latter called a press conference to tell the world that Salman had threatened him with dire consequences. Salman’s stoic silence and resolve to not get into a slanging match with Vivek won him more fans than adversaries. Much as Vivek would hate it, it is a fact that he too has been responsible in no small measure for the grand opening of Tere Naam. Perhaps, Salman can send Suresh Oberoi’s son a thank-you card with the words Tere Naam, to gratefully acknowledge Vivek’s contribution to the initial of his latest release. Although it may sound too communal, it must be said that cinemas in predominantly Muslim areas have reported the best advance booking for the film.

Finally, given the grand opening, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Tere Naam would be Salman’s comeback vehicle. The film looks poised to succeed at the box-office, may be in a major way. If that happens, Salman would have a success to his credit after a long, long time. Independence Day may, perhaps, mark Salman’s freedom from failures and flops.

India Syndicate