Today’s movie promotions have gone beyond just songs and trailers — they’ve entered the numbers game. Rather than showcasing genuine box office success, many film teams now opt to flaunt inflated figures to create artificial hype and boost perception.
The latest example is Suriya’s film Retro. While insiders suggest the film didn’t even touch the ₹100 crore mark at the box office, an official poster from Suriya’s own production house boldly claimed a whopping ₹235 crore gross. Naturally, this sparked controversy and became a hot topic on social media.
So, where’s the twist? That massive ₹235 crore figure includes non-theatrical revenues such as OTT rights and satellite deals — information that’s buried in fine print at the bottom of the poster. But the way the number is prominently displayed gives the impression of pure box office success, leading to backlash rather than applause.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Several recent films have followed the same strategy, promoting inflated numbers that don’t align with the actual theatrical collections. As a result, fans have grown increasingly skeptical of such posters — and rightfully so. Authenticity matters, and audiences today are quick to call out exaggerated claims.
