I am a master in India

Chapter 181 Release
The small theater in Kana village is not big, with only about twenty seats. The windows are also small, so small that even children cannot climb in.

The theater owner would rather suffer himself than give anyone the opportunity to evade paying.

At this point, the twenty or so seats were already packed to capacity, and even more people were squeezing in from outside.

Handrails, backrests, aisles, corners—people are everywhere, leaving you no time to even raise your hand to scratch an itch.

"That miser Anis, how many people are you planning to let in?" Muna turned his head with difficulty.

It was a dark mass of people, at least a hundred of them.

Anies is the theater owner; he works multiple jobs, checking and selling tickets at the entrance and selling betel nuts on the side.

"Don't speak, the movie is about to start!" Raja held his breath.

The room was crowded with people; some were telling vulgar jokes, some were chewing betel nuts, and others were breathing heavily.

The stench of sweat, betel nut, and bad breath mixed together, making the theater smell as bad as a latrine on a riverbank.

Suddenly the screen lit up, and everyone instinctively fell silent.

A rising sun appears on the screen, with the words "Sun Entertainment Production Company" displayed below.

Unfortunately, the villagers were illiterate and were just there to watch the spectacle.

Low-budget films are fast-paced and don't have lengthy setups.

The first character to appear on screen is the male protagonist, Lanka, who looks unkempt, wearing a denim shirt, jeans, and an American cavalry hat.

He encountered several thugs bullying a girl as soon as he appeared, and naturally, just like in countless movies, the male protagonist began to play the hero and save the damsel in distress.

Lanka, with the protagonist's aura, can make the impossible possible.

Singing and dancing, twisting his waist and swaying his hips, he defeated three armed thugs with his bare hands.

His fists were so powerful that they defied basic physics, making a dull thud before even touching the opponent's body.

He always drinks a lot of whiskey when he's heartbroken, and he's guaranteed to make a fortune in business.

The story wasn't new, but everyone was captivated; who hasn't fantasized about being the male protagonist in the picture?

When the character of Lanka's vain sister appeared on stage, the theater finally stirred.

Good heavens! That skirt is so short, it looks like it would blow up in the wind and reveal her alluring buttocks.

And you know what? Some impatient people actually ran up to the screen and blew on it vigorously.

Aside from eliciting laughter from the crowd, it also attracted all sorts of vulgar insults.

The plot of "In Praise of the Difficult Mother" is as unpredictable as the thoughts of the Difficult Mother herself.

The film uses a jump-cut technique to describe the major turning points the protagonist experiences one after another: getting married, being kicked out of the house, and the marriage falling apart, but does not explain the details, motivations, and purposes to the audience.

One second the protagonist is immersed in love, the next second he is heartbroken; the audience needs to use their imagination to interpret the plot in between.

Therefore, every time the protagonist achieves a small victory, it is a surprise for the audience.

You never know what will happen next, unlike watching mainstream Indian movies, where everyone's attention is gripped like never before.

As a religious film, the theme of difficulty in approaching the mother is naturally present.

When the plaster statue of the Inaccessible Mother, which was over ten meters tall, appeared, the atmosphere in the theater suddenly changed.

The devout Hindu rose and then clasped his hands together in prayer.

Some people even threw coins at the big screen, and Raja did just that. He prayed to save enough for Lina's dowry so that he could also get married.

The most devout believers even brought lamps for fire rituals, and when the two hymns that served as background music for the film played, they waved their lamps along the screen.

The scene was spectacular, a completely different style from the whistling that followed when the miniskirt appeared.

Sure enough, when the scenes that teenagers love to see reappeared, the theater was in chaos once again.

This time, there are not only miniskirts, but also almost transparent shirts, kissing scenes, and suggestive vulgar dialogue.

Durga has nine incarnations, one of which emerges from the water just like in the poster.

Muna heard suppressed groans coming from the side, and even Raja's breathing became rapid.

Oh dear, how could Third Brother stand all this? What religious film? It's clearly a mythological erotic comedy!

A similar scene unfolded in a luxury cinema in Varanasi, though of course, there was no vulgar whistling like in the village of Cana.

People living in the city tend to be more self-conscious; at most, they'll stare intently at the screen while secretly swallowing their saliva.

“Indian audiences have never seen anything like this before.” Mary was disdainful of the men’s behavior in the theater.

“You know, this is India, even kissing scenes are limited to no more than 5 seconds.” Ron watched with great interest.

For the first screening of "In Praise of the Mother," he secretly brought Mary and Lena into the theater and sat in the last row.

“These scenes are perfectly normal in the West, but they’re rated R in India. I really don’t understand the standards of the film censorship board,” Lena muttered to herself.

"Indian men eat too much curry, making them prone to impulsiveness, much like how drinking alcohol numbs their senses."

What can Ron say? The film censorship board knows Indian men better than he does in this regard.

Fortunately, he had seen many works by Japanese filmmakers in his previous life, so he was basically immune to the current camera angles.

Schiff managed to stretch the entire film to two and a half hours, with five musical numbers playing a significant role in this achievement.

The film also plays on religious correctness at the end, with the bride not thinking about the wedding night, but instead blowing a conch shell and singing a hymn to Durga as the groom drifts off to sleep.

"Do you think our movie will be popular?" Mary asked quietly.

"Of course, look around. Besides male viewers, there are quite a few female viewers as well, all of whom came for the film 'Distant Mother'." The film contains R-rated scenes, but the promotional focus is still on it as a religious film, and there are quite a few women in the theater.

"I just don't know how well 'Praise to Difficult Mother' is performing in rural areas. That Balam keeps saying that the rural market in India is very vast."

That's true, but you'd better not have any expectations of it.

"Why?" Mary asked curiously.

"Because movie tickets in rural areas and movie tickets in cities are completely different things."

India has many cinemas, with an average of about 20 million viewers going to the movies every day.

However, depending on the region, the cinemas are divided into three categories: A, B, and C.

A represents the city, and movie tickets usually cost around 60 rupees. The cinemas are well-equipped, with air conditioning and restrooms.

For example, tickets to luxury cinemas in Mumbai or New Delhi may cost close to 80 rupees.

B represents a town, where cinema conditions vary and ticket prices fluctuate between 20 and 40 rupees.

C refers to rural areas, where air conditioning is out of the question, and there aren't even toilets.

Of course, tickets for rural theaters are also the cheapest, generally not exceeding 15 rupees.

Most of the population in North India lives in rural areas, where feudalism and conservatism make it a good fit for a film like "Praise of Difficult Mother".

However, because the ticket prices are so low, on average, five tickets are needed to equal the price of one ticket sold at a city cinema.

Based on these calculations, it's really hard to say who ultimately contributed more to the box office.

As the movie ended and the audience began to leave, Ron and his group were the last to leave.

"Do you trust that Balam?" Mary asked.

"Of course not, that guy is always thinking about how to swindle money from me."

"How will the box office be calculated? I'm not worried about the cities. But what about the rural areas? You know, we're not familiar with those places."

“Don’t worry,” Ron smiled mysteriously, “we have people among those movie projectionists.”

The film copies sent to the countryside were always done in groups of three: one person was responsible for projection, and the other two were responsible for bookkeeping and supervision.

One of the two supervisors was one of Ron's men. He supervised both the theater owner and his colleagues.

After each movie screening, the trio would immediately tally the box office revenue, splitting it 60/40 with the theater owner.

All accounts were settled on the spot, and the trio took the money and left, along with a copy, before heading to the next village.

In rural India, films are released and revenue is distributed in this manner.

Often, the three of them can travel to most of the rural areas of the region within a week.

The Su family has no shortage of manpower; there are several hundred people in the village.

With them around, Ron wasn't worried at all about Balram rigging the box office figures.

However, the scope is limited to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar, so there's not much they can do.

Balram will inevitably inflate box office figures, but as long as it's not too excessive, Ron will turn a blind eye.

Unfortunately, the entire Indian government is a makeshift operation, and it's impossible to achieve perfection.

The three of them hadn't gone far from the movie theater when they saw several men groping a woman.

It is not difficult to discern from their vulgar language that they are some of the crude dialogues in "In Praise of the Mother of Difficulty".

Ron was somewhat troubled; the Indians were indeed a case of the small head controlling the big head.

The movie didn't have any explicit scenes, but these guys automatically imagined unspeakable scenarios and are even planning to put them into practice themselves.

Mary and Lena didn't give them a chance. The two girls were incredibly fierce and beat the thugs until they were screaming and howling in no time.

The rescued girl was furious. She thanked him and stormed off to the police station to report the incident.

Ron and his two companions exchanged glances, suddenly realizing that the members of the film censorship committee weren't all just making trouble for no reason.

The Praise of the Difficult Mother quickly became a sensation in Uttar Pradesh, where religious stories have remained popular for a long time.

With Ron providing protection, it would be hard for the movie not to be a hit.

However, along with the photos of the movie's popularity in major cinemas, there was also a piece of news that was quite unbelievable.

A woman was brutally raped because of the film "Praise to Mother".

When Mary handed the newspaper to Ron, his first thought was of the girl he had rescued the night before.

“Didn’t we save her?” he asked.

"Yes, but it couldn't be saved a second time."

"What do you mean?"

“She went to the police station, but the officers on duty took her to a room. She couldn’t escape; there were four officers and three suspects there.”

"Good heavens!" Ron covered his face. "The prisoners did it too?"

"What hope do you have for your own people?" Mary sneered at him.

Ron shrugged. "Is it my fault?"
Never mind, he doesn't have time to deal with the movie today; he's going to Mirzabur.

(End of this chapter)