In new-age Bollywood, when multi-crore-rupee films like Jodhaa Akbar and Om Shanti Om are making news with their huge openings, there is a section of movies that hope to emerge as the underdog of the BO.

While one would have expected a film like Black & White, which marks Subhash Ghai’s return to direction after three years and has Anil Kapoor in the lead, to opt for a bigger opening, it releases today with a mere 300 prints — a miniscule number when compared with the current staggering figures. “Black & White will have a medium opening. Though this is a Subhash Ghai film, we did not release it in a big way since it is a serious and realistic film and we don’t expect it to be an immediate hit,” says Ravi Gupta, CEO, Mukta Arts. “There are certain films for which word-of-mouth publicity makes a difference.”

Films like Bheja Fry, Johnny Gaddar and the more recent Jab We Met that turned out to be last year’s sleeper hits have inspired filmmakers and production houses to adopt a different business model. “The current scenario is very encouraging,” says director Sarthak Dasgupta whose first film The Great Indian Butterfly, produced by Sanjay Gupta, releases shortly. “This is a Rs 1 crore film. It is likely to work for a niche audience. Also, there’s no fear of piracy.” In most cases, it’s logical for so-called meaningful films, made on modest budgets, to adopt the slow-and-steady strategy. “It so happens that we don’t have the requisite budget to afford a bigger opening,” adds Dasgupta.

However, it is significant that mainstream producers like UTV and Mukta Arts are adopting this safer strategy. “For our forthcoming movies like Paying Guest (by Paritosh Painter) and Hello Darling (by Manoj Tiwari), we plan a medium opening. But in such cases, we have to remain careful that the unavailability of prints does not ruin a film’s chances,” says Gupta. UTV too has similar plans for Mahadev, directed by Shyam Benegal, and the Rajeev Khandelwal-starrer Amir. “Our industry has just woken up to the word-of-mouth business model, it’s very profitable,” says Vikas Behl, creative and business head of UTV’s new arm, Spotboy Motion Pictures.