There is a tendency in the media to exploit the paucity of authentic trade-related information to bring out confusing reports after any big-ticket film flops. We have seen this in recent times in relation to two movies.
When 'Laal Singh Chaddha' flopped, a Bollywood portal said that Aamir Khan was in a state of depression because distributors were planning to knock on the doors of his house to make demands. Viacom 18, refuting the report, stated categorically that the film wasn't distributed through external distributors in the first place. The company even claimed that the film was not a loss venture. Aamir Khan must have made huge losses only if you take opportunity costs into consideration since he had to forgo remuneration as one of the producers. But this math and reality were lost on the media.
Then came 'Liger'. After the film received negative reviews, a section of the web media first said that Puri Jagannadh and Charmme were in trouble. Then they claimed that the producers were safe because of excellent non-theatrical revenues. The buzz now is that the distributors of the film are now planning to approach the Film Chamber of Commerce. So, the Puri-Charmme duo is apparently once again in "trouble". There is no consistency in reportage.
Then there is 'Brahmastra'. The film's budget is claimed to be Rs 410 Cr, although nobody knows if this is an inflated claim and, if inflated, by how much. If the film doesn't gross Rs 600 Cr or so, unreasonable reports are once again going to be written about the alleged quantum of loss.
