The Rajshri game plan for Vivah

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Mumbai: At a time when most filmmakers are bombarding the box office with hundreds of prints to get a good opening weekend, the Rajshri Productions have decided to adopt a completely opposite approach for their new release Vivah.

It's back to the marriage mandap for the Rajshri banner with Vivah which stars Shahid Kapur and Amrita Rao. The film will release at cinemas across the country on November 10.

The producers have decided to release the film in only 200 screens nationwide and a 100 in the overseas market. With most producers preferring to flood the market with maximum prints, the Rajshris have decided to swim against the tide.

Only two weeks ago, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Don opened with as many as 800-odd prints and Jaan-e-mann with a 1,000.

Even this week's period drama Umrao Jaan has been released with close to 500 prints. But the Rajshris seem unperturbed by the current trend and they have a logical explanation for their decision.

"It’s a small film and the actors are not too big. So, it will gain popularity only by word of mouth,” director, Rajshri Productions, Kamal Kumar Barjatya said.

The limited release strategy has worked wonders for the Rajshris before. The record breaking Hum Aapke Hai Kaun was released at only one cinema each in Delhi and Mumbai in its first week of release.

In subsequent weeks, more prints were added across the country. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun eventually went on to become Bollywood's first film to gross more than Rs 100 crore.

Based on the success of that experiment, the Rajshris are sticking their necks out again. And despite the tepid response to the initial trailers of Vivah, trade pundits in Bollywood seem hopeful about the film's box office prospects.

"With Rajshri always veering away from trends, like in this case they are releasing few prints when other films are bombarding the box office, the film might work," film trade analyst, Taran Adarsh said.

Going solely by the fact that most of this year's successes have been small films or original films with unique themes, the success of Vivah will perhaps depend on whether it treads new ground. Of course, the answer will be out next Friday.