Gone are the days when box-office hits were movies that easily lasted at least 10-15 weeks and most of them completing silver jubilee. In today’s times, it’s impossible to see such a thing happening.

We are living in a see-and-forget-world. The world has become so fast that the first weekend collections itself determine whether a film is a hit or flop! And most of the times, a person who hasn’t seen a particular movie labels it as good or poor by just looking its business over the first three days.

Let’s take two examples –Singh Is King and Kambakkht Ishq. Singh Is King was considered as the most successful Bollywood film when it released in 2008. The stamp of a blockbuster was granted to it just because its producers and distributors booked almost all theatres in the country with around 10 shows per day.

As expected, people stormed into the theatres in the first weekend as it was a hugely awaited movie. Therefore, it gets the status of one of the biggest hits ever in Bollywood. However, you will hardly hear any praises from those who have seen this. Singh Is King’s audience rating in Imdb.com is just about 5 out of 10. Any regular reader at Imdb will know that to have a rating of 5 over there isn’t good by any means.

Kambakkht Ishq is even a bigger example. Some critics are of the view that it’s a super hit judging by its business on the first three days. But do we have any appreciators for this so called super hit? On Imdb, the audience’s response is merely 3.6 out of 10 for this flick.

This proves that in today’s times, it’s not difficult to ‘cook’ a box-office hit. All you need is a top actor, an exciting promo and a good marketing strategy. In fact, it seems some filmmakers are putting in more efforts in creating their film’s promo than the actual movie.

There is a dialogue in the movie Halla Bol (sadly, another sincere effort going unnoticed) by some side actor. It says “Aaj kal sab kuchh marketing pe chalta hai. Jab tak public ko achchhe-bure ki samaj aaye, teen din mein maal andar”. The ‘3 Day Affair’ cannot be described more accurately than this!