
When Zakia Rafiqi, 26, heard that Laila Majnu, a 2018 Bollywood movie, was being re-released in cinemas this month, she knew she needed to watch it once more.
“In 2018, I used to be amongst a handful of individuals within the cinema. This time, there have been many extra individuals. Loads of them had been laughing and crying,” says Ms Rafiqi, who went together with her sister to a cinema in Delhi.
Ms Rafiqi says she has an “emotional join” with the movie, a tragic love story set in Indian-administered Kashmir, the place she is from.
“It’s good to see a chunk of dwelling on the massive display screen. When they’re driving via the streets of Kashmir, you’re feeling you might be there,” she says.
Laila Majnu, written by well-liked filmmaker Imtiaz Ali, barely made a mark on the field workplace when it was first launched, however did good enterprise on its second run. It is one amongst dozens of Indian movies – some made greater than 20 years in the past – that are getting a brand new lease of life as individuals flock to observe them on the massive display screen.
India’s movie trade, like others internationally, has seen ups and downs because the coronavirus pandemic shuttered cinemas for months and led many to show to streaming companies. It is but to return to its former glory.
“This 12 months has been notably unhealthy for brand new [Bollywood] releases,” says commerce analyst Komal Nahta.
The trade – dominated by Hindi-language Bollywood – is now churning out movies extra usually, but it surely’s frequent to listen to individuals say they’ll look ahead to a movie to stream on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video as a substitute of going to cinemas.
Some movies do break via – Stree 2, a Hindi horror-comedy presently enjoying in cinemas, has earned near 4 billion rupees ($47.6m; £36.1m) domestically to date to turn into the 12 months’s largest Bollywood hit. In phrases of total earnings, it’s second solely to Kalki 2898 AD, a “pan-Indian” movie which featured a number of the nation’s largest stars. But these are uncommon vivid spots for an trade which has seen extremely anticipated movies with massive stars fare miserably on the field workplace this 12 months.
There’s little doubt that India’s movie trade is constant to see a churn as viewing habits shift – the highest 10 movies to date this 12 months embody three from the southern state of Kerala, the place budgets are comparatively small.
So it’s not shocking that each movie distributors and viewers are turning to the consolation of the acquainted. A take a look at the listing of movies being launched once more exhibits there’s no clear system behind the alternatives.
Bollywood re-releases this 12 months are throughout a spread of genres. The Nineteen Nineties appear to be a favorite decade with much-loved rom-coms Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Hum Aapke Hain Koun and motion thrillers Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Baazigar getting a second outing. More current hits – musical Rockstar (2011), buddy movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and rom-com Jab We Met (2007) – have additionally introduced individuals again to cinemas.
Analysts say the most important shock was the success of Laila Majnu. The movie’s makers have mentioned they had been notably completely satisfied that viewers in Kashmir may watch it as cinema halls reopened there in 2022 after greater than 20 years.
“The movie has lastly recovered its value or not less than minimised its losses,” says Mr Nahta, who provides that this can spur others to see if their movies may additionally profit from a re-release.

Taran Adarsh, a Bollywood analyst, says these re-releases are making up for a scarcity of recent movies and lacklustre box-office performances.
The re-releases have little to no promotion, with posters merely popping up on ticket reserving websites or circulating on social media. “It’s pushed purely by nostalgia or an viewers’s love for a movie that already has a cult following,” says Mr Adarsh.
In Tamil and Telugu, the re-releases have been extra star-driven. Recent movies present followers of Telugu celebrity Chiranjeevi dancing to a success track from his 2002 hit Indra in cinemas. Pawan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh (2012) is about to launch subsequent week. In Tamil, Vijay’s Ghilli (2004) ran to packed halls in April.
“It’s often the movie of a celebrity whose star might have simply been rising 20 years in the past or a movie that was already a success,” says Sreedhar Pillai, an analyst who tracks the southern movie industries. “It must be pushed by nostalgia and have a reference to an actor who’s an enormous star at present.”
Malayalam celebrity Mohanlal has two such movies – Devadoothan (2000) and Manichithrathazhu (1993) – presently operating in cinemas in Kerala. Coincidentally, each are horror movies.
Devadoothan, an eerie movie with stunning songs which flopped when it first launched, has been operating to packed cinemas for greater than a month.
Mr Pillai says that Manichithrathazhu, a cult basic which broke box-office data when it first launched, might be the most important “success story” amongst re-releases in southern India.
“It’s an iconic movie. An enormous blockbuster when it was launched, and now it is also getting the younger viewers,” he says.
Sometimes, the prospect of a sequel can drive curiosity within the first movie.
Last 12 months, the 2001 movie Gadar: Ek Prem Katha had one other profitable run in cinemas after its sequel Gadar 2 turned a large hit, says Mr Nahta.
But the re-release of Kamal Haasan’s Indian this 12 months didn’t see comparable success as a result of its sequel Indian 2 didn’t carry out nicely, he provides.

So why are individuals paying to observe older movies which might be simply out there on streaming platforms?
“You merely can’t evaluate the expertise of watching a movie on-line with watching it in theatres and that’s what audiences are turning out for,” Mr Adarsh says.
Shruti Zende agrees. The 30-year-old from Pune metropolis in Maharashtra state has watched a few re-releases since final 12 months.
“Instead of watching the movie for its storyline, it turns into a gaggle expertise the place you are watching with individuals who actually just like the film,” she says, including that folks begin reacting earlier than a scene or dialogue as a result of “they know what’s arising”.
She is now trying ahead to watching Telugu celebrity Nagarjuna’s 2004 movie Mass on the massive display screen this week.
But her closing verdict on re-releases will give hope to beleaguered filmmakers.
“I’ll watch one or two re-releases a 12 months,” she says. “But after that I’d nonetheless need to watch a brand new movie.”