Half Girlfriend: Is this the resurgence of films focussing on small town markets?

Filmmakers have been experimenting with out of closet films exhibiting western values to the Indian audience. However, the long spell of ‘casual’ romance doesn’t seem to work well with the desi audience, as a series of love stories have failed to perform at the Box Office.

At such a time, Shraddha Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor’s Half Girlfriend comes as a sigh of relief as it seems to strike a perfect formula catering to the masses. “I look at it this way; clearly, here, we have two nations in one -India and Bharat.” says Producer Ekta Kapoor.

The film is witnessing a strong run at the box office and has already garnered Rs 55.31 crore in the domestic market until its 2nd weekend. A major part of the film’s collection comes from the heartland, with the film performing exceptionally well in A and B centres, with high occupancy rate in multiplex and single screens.

The collections are doing average in metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Bangalore but are doing exceptionally well in small cities like Jaipur, Surat, Patna and Lucknow. Half Girlfriend led an extensive marketing campaign, which was not just restricted to the metros but prioritized penetration at the grass root level.

A detailed marketing campaign was put in motion to have Half Girlfriend with a vision to connect the film to the interiors, for the same an independent marketing communication agency specializing in driving communication in B and C centers was hired, following which an independent blue print was sketched analysing the target mass centers.

The impact of an individualistic marketing approach catering to B and C towns proved highly beneficial as the film opened to a whooping collection of Rs 10.27 crores on Day 1. Majority part of the opening day collections was contributed by the interiors as opposed to metro cities.

In a multi city visit, the cast of Half Girlfriend traveled to Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow and Indore in addition to metro cities.

The film, a love story between an uptown Riya Somani (Shraddha Kapoor) and a rooted Madhav Jha (Arjun Kapoor) which has struck chords with the core Hindi audience.

With a strong collection, Half Girlfriend restores the interest of the masses in the genre of romance in 2017.