Mumbai, February 9 Shekhar Kapur still remembers the advice he received from the man who sold tickets illegally. It was to not make "artistic" films, as only two people, including the director, showed up to watch "Masoom" on its release day in the cinema hall.
Sharing a photograph from the 1983 movie, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Urmila Matondkar, Jugal Hansraj, and Aradhana Srivastav, Kapur wrote about the disappointing first day of the movie, which became a major milestone in his career.
"Back then, 'black marketing' of cinema tickets was very common. Young men, or even gangs, would buy up all the tickets and then sell them at higher prices on the day of the show. Of course, if the hall was full! Except for the first show on the first day of "Masoom", the hall was completely empty!"
"I was surrounded by some angry-looking young men when they found out I was the director. They had lost their money that day. I must have looked very dejected. So one of them actually took pity on me and said, 'Sir, the problem is that you've made an "artistic" film.' If you want a successful career, don't do that," Kapur shared in a post on X.
The director, who went on to make critically acclaimed films such as "Mr India", "The Bandit Queen", and "Elizabeth" and its sequel in Hollywood, said he kept wondering what an "artistic" film meant when he suddenly realized that the man meant he had made a film with artistic merit.
"Well, on the Friday of the release, all the cinema halls were empty, just like they were on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The distributors of the film gave up trying to promote it. It was too expensive to keep the film showing to empty halls."
"I remember how I felt that day, when they told me they had decided to give up on the film. I walked the streets of Mumbai and thought about what I was going to do next in my life. Making films was certainly no longer an option," Kapur said.
The movie, considered a classic even today, revolves around a couple – DK and Indu, who have two daughters. The gentle rhythm of their married life is disrupted when DK's illegitimate son, Rahul, comes to live with them after his mother passes away.
While the children bond, Indu struggles to accept Rahul as her own.
Kapur, who is making a sequel to the movie titled "Masoom, the Next Generation", said he gave up on the film's fate when something surprising happened on Thursday.
"A friend called me and asked if I could help him get tickets to "Masoom". I told him that was a bad joke. But then, on Thursday, one cinema hall was full, and on Friday, there were lines of people waiting to buy tickets. And over the weekend, the distributors were scrambling to get the halls back, and my "artistic" film was declared a hit," he recalled.
Kapur said people attributed the success of "Masoom" to word of mouth, but how did that become possible when no one saw the movie when it was released?
"What happened on that Thursday? I still wonder as I am about to start making "Masoom, the next generation" – years after "Masoom" became a cult film. Is "Masoom, the next generation" another "artistic" film?"
