Are Fans Turning Into Critics Or Critics Turning Fans?

Everybody is a film pundit in India. They might not be able to predict the results of a general election, but Indians have these X-Rays or magical powers to foretell the fate of a movie releasing anytime.

Does that mean everyone is a film critic? We’ll find out!

Read more: Movies & Numbers - Your one stop destination to see user and critic ratings with Box Office collections for films

Recently, there’s something astounding that has been happening at the movies which many of us have not observed. Fans and critics are really starting to be on the same page in terms of reviews.

The latest film being Shah Rukh Khan’s FAN, which has received the same response from both audience and critics, ‘SRK, the actor is back!’

How Indian fans rate movies?

Source bollywoodblog.com

So we’re all trade pundits right? A sexy item number, a chartbuster song, a kiss or two, and some superbly timed comic dialogues or abusive language! That’s it!

Who looks for a story?

Okay, some people do! The intellectual lot of the society looks for a message in the movie. So a family movie with grand sets and fully clad clothes gets 4 thumbs up from the audience. The younger generation looks for relativity. So if there’s a scene which can make them come back to update a review or status with the hashtag #StoryOfTheirLife, the film is a sure shot success among the masses.

Star quotient of course cannot be ruled out. With Salman – SRK – Aamir and Akshay Kumar fanatics, the question is not about the movie rating. Actresses still aren’t the primary reason why movie goers in India spend on a ticket.

How fans expect critics to rate movies, and how they actually do?

Source Tumblr

The best example of this is Rohit Shetty movies. “To hell with critics” he says in Anna Vetticad’s book – The Adventures Of An Intrepid Film Critic. He further argues that critics come, eat the popcorn from his hard earned money and give 1.5 stars to his movie! Fair enough, even then no one knows what parameters determine those ratings. There’s no specific rulebook, so critics who are also blamed to be aspiring filmmakers, get cursed by filmmakers and audience if their ratings for a film don’t match the expectation of the masses.

Then there are some films which really get high ratings (or in some cases we’d say paid ratings and reviews) in the name of mutual admiration society or business in real terms.

In a nutshell, critics in India are usually labelled as vultures planning to screw up a Friday for producers.

But, here’s a twist!

Proof: When Fans and Critics gave the same ratings to movies

The topmost movies during 2011-2015 in terms of popularity by audience votes, have astonishingly received the same ratings from both users and critics. Leading the race with 3.9/5 stars is Kangana Ranaut’s Queen (2014), Special 26 and English Vinglish with 3.7, Bombay Talkies and Ugly with 3.6/5 stars. So the critics and fans indeed came to a consensus!

Released at a difference of a fortnight, Drishyam (Hindi) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), both garnered same ratings of 3.3 stars by both users and critics.

Films with lesser buzz or predictions of a slow start have also ended up in the same boat for audience and vultures, as they say. Karthik Calling Karthik, Ek Paheli Leela, B.A. Pass and Aarakshan too sank in the same ocean, considering that not every time do people like such movies, critics after belong to the masses only.

What increases are belief in the marriage between the thoughts of fans and critics is movies like Hero (2015). Backed by Salman Khan, with roaring popularity of the lead actors couldn’t save the ship from sinking. It was ousted by both the gangs!

How did that affect/determine their Box Office collections?

Ratings and Box Office Collections do look like parallel lines, but they do drift apart! No amount of good rating has ever guaranteed incredible moolahs at the box office. What one should also keep in mind is the budget of the movies. Not every well rated movie crosses 100 Cr, for a simple fact that it might be made on a shoe-string budget.

Queen (2015) for instance grossed 61.48 Cr while no one was even willing to put money on it. It was director Anurag Kashyap who kick-started the biggest hit of Kangana’s career when the director Vikas Bahl had lost all hope to venture into shooting it. Special 26, belonging to the house of Akshay Kumar also did not enter the 100 Cr club because it was an intelligent movie. Not all the people in the crowd would applaud it for some ‘serious’ entertainment. Because for a fact we must know, that Indians still love masala movies.

The only movie which actually gave a damn about its ratings was Bajrangi Bhaijaan. A whopping 300Cr plus business with just 3.3 stars speaks volumes about star power in Bollywood. Eid for instance is Salman’s property. No one messes to release a film in an around this festival because Bhai exclusively owns it. Even SRK has planned to push the release date of Raees and avoid clash with Sultan.

Bombay Velvet is a classic example of an incredible film gone down the drain, because both critics and users, despite a generous applause for Ranbir, could not save the film from literally dooming. Only grossing 8 Cr, this one came as a shocker!

So it’s a gamble which only evolves, it never stops.

Fact 101: Good reviews by critics do get featured everywhere, does that mean they secretly do matter after all?

Within the first day of the release of a big movie (coming from renowned production houses), PR machinery functions like never before and the best of quotes and reviews are put up by production houses. Even stars for that matter, including SRK (watch him thank his fans for the success of FAN) have tweeted to thank their fans and critics by individually sharing and thanking them.

So filmmakers do come into the spotlight if they secretly do seek validation from critics.

It’s all together a new paradigm where fan reviews too get social media acknowledgement by production houses and stars.

Are fans turning critics OR critics are turning fans?

We’re all trade pundits! Watch the teaser and the trailer and the fate of the movies gets decided both by fans and critics. There’s no midway. More like manufacturing consent for each other, fans predict ratings and sometimes critics do meet their expectations. In either of the cases, whether fan ratings and critics’ ratings match or not, there certainly is a role reversal or blurring of lines in the world of movie reviews and ratings.

Disclaimer: All the ratings are based on the data and votes by users on Desimartini.com and the Box Office collections are based on internet research.