 
Boom managed to make it to the screens on September 19, after a lot of tension for its distributors due to delayed deliveries.
There were several reasons for delivery hassles. Till late Thursday (September 18) evening, barely 19 hours before the first show was to start all over India, not a single print of Boom had been delivered to any of the distributors of India! Such delivery drama in the case of a big-budget and big-banner film is quite a rarity in the film industry. The distributors of the various circuits were pressing panic buttons and exhibitors all over the country didn’t know what was happening.
For one, producer Ayesha Shroff’s (actor Jackie Shroff’s wife) recoveries from her all-India distributors were far short of the payments she had to make to her financiers, the Hindujas.
Secondly, since Amitabh Bachchan had obtained a stay order against the film’s release about 16 days back, the court order vacating the stay was necessary for the laboratory to effect deliveries as it was also a party to the court case. The court order, vacating the stay on release, reached the laboratory (Adlabs) making the prints, as late as Thursday evening and the said lab could, therefore, deliver the prints only after that.
Although it had earlier been decided out of court that Sahara Television would be given the film’s satellite rights in lieu of which it would pay the balance remuneration due to Bachchan, the position stood changed thereafter. Sahara no longer holds the satellite rights as the Hindujas themselves compensated Bachchan. Part of his dues were cleared on September 13 so that the overseas delivery could be effected. Delivery for overseas territory is usually given a week in advance because several countries re-censor the films before they can be screened in theatres. The balance portion of his salary was paid to Amitabh before the deliveries of the Indian circuits could be effected this week.
There were conflicting rumours about how Ayesha Shroff had made good her shortfall to the financiers. One version had it that she had mortgaged her houses in Bombay to them to make good the reported deficit of about Rs. 4.5 crore. However, another story doing the rounds in trade circles is that Ayesha Shroff was herself spreading the mortgage story in a bid to gain the sympathy of the trade.
Anyway, if Ayesha has not paid off the entire loan amount or not provided for it by way of security to the Hindujas, the latter would now have to recover part of their shortfall from the sale of the film’s satellite rights. They are also hoping that overflow would accrue to them from their distributors. Overflow is what comes to the producer/financier after the distributor recovers his cost and commission. But that would happen in the case of Boom only if the film finds appreciation. From the early public reports, it doesn’t seem very likely that the film would go for a long run. That is to say, there seems to be a remote possibility of overflow accruing to the Hindujas from Boom.
It may be mentioned here that the film has not been released in two territories of India as the distributors of those territories refused to take deliveries at the contracted prices following the pirated VCDs of the film surfacing in the market 14 days prior to the film’s theatrical release. Of course, the prices of all the distributors were reduced in the ratio of Rs. 20 lakhs per major territory for the same reason, but two of the distributors were not satisfied with that. Obviously, the bad pre-release reports of the film had frightened them so much that one of the two distributors pleaded that his under-production payment of just Rs.1 lakh be considered as his revised price! The contracted price was, believe it or not, Rs.25 lakhs! Of course, Ayesha Shroff and the Hindujas would hear nothing of that.
All in all, the release of Boom was a nightmarish experience for its distributors in India. Although the Hindujas did their best to accommodate all concerned, the unprofessional attitude of Ayesha Shroff and her lack of experience created avoidable problems for her distributors.
Interestingly, Jackie Shroff, was away in Goa for the shooting of Dobaara while everybody connected with Boom was on fire in Bombay.
India Syndicate
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