Why Jeetendra-starrer Farz, A Cult Classic, Was Deemed A Flop Until Its 12th Week – News18

Veteran actor Jeetendra needs no introduction. He ruled Bollywood from the 1960s to the 1980s. His stardom was such that his films used to dominate the box office as soon as they were released. However, there were many times in his life when the audience rejected his high-budget films and they didn’t perform well at the box office. A similar incident took place in the 1967 film Farz. However, this film showed success in the 15th week. Let’s take a look at the reason behind it.

Actor Jeetendra is among those Bollywood stars who have seen stardom for a long time. But he became a star overnight after appearing in the spy thriller film Farz. This film was very special for him. As soon as the movie was released, Jeetendra became the ‘Jumping Jack’. Jeetendra starrer Farz was directed by Ravikant Nagaich and backed by Sunderlal Nahata Dundi under the Vijaya Lakshmi Pictures banner. Actress Babita was seen opposite Jeetendra in the film. The chemistry between both of them in the movie won the hearts of the audience. But it is said that Farz disappointed the makers a lot in the initial days of its release.

According to media reports, this superhit film about Jeetendra was made on a budget of Rs 1.10 crore. In those days, the film had earned a lot of profit after clearing its budget. The worldwide collection of the movie was 5 crore. It proved to be the third-biggest superhit film of the year 1967.

According to the IMBD report, while talking about the earnings of this film, the actor once revealed that after the release of this film, it had a bad 12 weeks at the box office. It was a flop. He had to work hard to make this film a hit at the box office.

According to reports, in the 12th week, Jeetendra bought all the tickets for the film and insisted the theatre owners run it in the theatres. Jeetendra did this so that the theatre owner would not remove this film from the theatre. Jeetendra felt that if the film runs until the 15th week, the collections will improve. This manoeuvre by Jitendra proved correct. Slowly but surely, there was a lot of change in the film’s collection. The movie, which had proved to be a flop, suddenly took off and thus became a blockbuster of 1967.