From 'article movie' to a hit: Shekhar Kapur remembers his first film 'Masoom' starring Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi

The legendary director Shekhar Kapur posted a photo from the making of 1983- classic 'Masoom' on his X handle remembering the release and early response of the film. The photo features lead actors Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and three child actors Urmila Matodkar, Jugal Hansraj and Aradhana Srivastav, along with Kapur himself.

Kapur recalls walking into a Mumbai theatre on the first day of release, only to find "Except the first show on the first day for Masoom, the hall was completely empty!" and there were "two people in the whole cinema hall.." and one of them was he, himself.

He remembers how in an era when black marketing of cinema tickets thrived on packed houses, the emptiness proved costly. Outside the theatre, one young ticket resellers, who was also angry at his loss due to low response for the film, identified him and gave him an unsolicited career advice: “Sir, you’ve made an ‘article’ film. If you want a career, don’t do that.” What the boy meant, Kapur realised later, was artistic film.

The verdict seemed final and Friday audience was shoing up into midweek as well. At this point Kapur remembers walking the streets of Mumbai that day, contemplating a future where filmmaking no longer seemed possible.

Then, unexpectedly, something shifted and Kapur says, "Something strange happened on Thursday." A friend called asking for tickets. He was surpised at this surprised at this request but the film actually started doing wonders on the Box Office. Theatres were filled up, queues formed and distributors reclaimed theatre screenings they had abandoned. In a matter of days, the same “article film” was declared a hit.

What caused the turnaround? Industry experts call it the effect of “word of mouth”, but Kapur says that so few had seen the film initially so how is that even possible.

Kapur who is now going to make 'Masoom, the next generation,' the mystery of the turnaround is something that he is yet to solve.