Last month, Punjabi film Bambukat set the cash registers ringing in Australia by minting A$ 239,887 (Rs.1.22 crore) in its opening weekend. The comedy drama directed by Pankaj Batra that has earned A$ 490,860 (Rs.2.51 crore) by now is one of the many films made in the language to strike a chord with the Punjabi community in the country.
Earlier in March, family drama Love Punjab beat the opening weekend business of Hindi releases like Airlift (A$184,099/Rs.93 lakh) and Bajirao Mastani (A$ 305,226/Rs.1.44 crore) at the Australian box office by minting A$ 406,601 (Rs.2.07 crore). Not too far behind were Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Ambarsariya, which made A$ 249,785 (Rs.1.26 crore), and actor-director Gippy Grewal’s Ardaas, which earned A$ 213,252 (Rs.1.09 crore). Love Punjab, Bambukat and Ardaas rank 82, 91 and 94, respectively, in the annual Australia box office list for 2016 so far.
“Australia has emerged as a fantastic market for Punjabi films in the past two or three years,” confirmed trade analyst Taran Adarsh. “It’s the other big player besides Canada and I see it turning bigger in times to come.”
To be sure, the rising Punjabi migrant community in Australia has contributed to these numbers, most of whom are either students or businessmen running local shops or cafeterias. Sikhs form one of the largest subgroups of Indian Australians in the country, according to the 2011 Census. Besides Australia, New Zealand and Fiji too have reported impressive figures for Punjabi language films, just behind already dominant markets like the United Kingdom and Canada.
Unlike Hindi films, the success of Punjabi movies in Australia does not depend on the popularity of stars who may guarantee an opening or are sure to draw in audiences, though actors like Diljit Dosanjh and Gippy Grewal are considered equivalent to Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in their regional language cinema. For instance, Grewal’s action drama Kaptaan did not notch up particularly impressive numbers. Adarsh emphasizes that Australian viewers largely make up an “entertainment-driven” market.
“If the film is good, the sky is the limit. But it has to be well-made commercially and have a buzz around it,” said Atul Mohan, editor of trade magazine Complete Cinema. “Bambukat, for instance, started with the average screen count of eight to nine cinemas and grew with word-of-mouth praise.”
Mohan added that a successful Punjabi film can notch up 30-40 cinemas in Australia, which is as good as a big-ticket Hindi film. Plus, a simultaneous release worldwide helps the prospects of these films, unlike earlier, when even a decent-sized movie would hit theatres outside India only two or three weeks after its primary release.
“Then there is the role social media has to play,” Mohan said. “Audiences may make their choices depending on overall commercial factors but considering the Punjabi population and the kind of releases these films get, after the UK and Canada, Australia is the one market that is growing.”
All figures in this story have been sourced from movie website Bollywood Hungama.
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