Released in 1983, ‘Masoom’ marked a new era in Bollywood’s history. In 2 hours and 14 minutes, this movie unraveled the tale of a family that faced anyone’s worst nightmare. It showed how one big mistake can ruin everything in no time. And speaking of mistakes, upon its release, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur thought “making films was certainly no longer an option.” ‘Masoom’ was Shekhar Kapur’s directorial debut, and sure, the movie is counted among the cult classics; but when it opened in July 1983, it saw empty theatres. This left the filmmaker perplexed; distributors and ticket sellers angry.
Why were the theatres empty upon the release of ‘Masoom’?
The man who gave Bollywood gems like ‘Mr. India,’ ‘Bandit Queen,’ ‘Elizabeth’ and more, Shekhar Kapur, took to his social media handle to share the story of ‘Masoom’s release. On February 9, 2026, Shekhar Kapur, taking to X (formerly Twitter), shared that on the first day of release, when he reached the theatre, he saw only two people, including him.Posting a throwback picture, he wrote, “On the first day of release, I went to the main theatre … and there were only two people in the whole cinema hall… and one of them was me!”He said back in the day, people used to buy tickets in bulk and sell them at a higher price as a black market strategy. When ‘Masoom’ released, the same thing happened; however, since the theatres were empty, the buyers were angry. When they saw Shekhar and learned that he was the director, they surrounded him. However, seeing how devastated he was, soon the crowd took pity on him.He wrote, “Those days, ‘black marketing’ of cinema tickets was really prevalent. Young men, or even gangs, would bulk by cinema tickets and then sell them at higher prices on the day of the show.. of course, if the hall was full… Except the first show on the first day for Masoom, the hall was completely empty! Outside, I got surrounded by some pretty angry-looking young boys when they discovered I was the director… they had lost their money that day... I must have looked pretty crestfallen. So one of them actually took pity on me, and said .. ‘Sir .. the problem is you’ve made an ‘article’ film’ .. if you want a career, don’t do that.”He soon realised the person warning him meant that Shekhar made an ‘art film.’ It seemed like ‘Masoom’ came across like an art movie, which was a wrong move according to the man who talked to Shekhar. He continued, “Article film?? I kept wondering… article film… I realised he meant an ‘artistic film’… Don’t ever make an artistic film; this young black marketeer was trying to warn me… Well, the Friday of release... all the cinema halls were empty… as they were on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday… “
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What happened after ‘Masoom’ failed to draw an audience initially?
Everything turned upside down for Kapur. His distributors were ready to back out. Meanwhile, he was wondering what his next career move should be.
Shekhar Kapoor second guessed his career as a filmmaker after the release of ‘Masoom.'(Image Credit: Instagram)
“The Distributors of the film gave up trying to support the film. It was too expensive to keep the film showing in empty halls… I remember the feeling that day… when they told me they had decided to give up trying to hold the theatres .. I walked the streets of Mumbai and thought about what I was going to do next in my life, for making films was certainly no longer an option,” wrote the filmmaker before narrating about the big turn of events which changed everything.
‘Masoom’: From a career flop to cult classic
Things took a 180-degree turn, and a movie which couldn’t fill two seats became houseful. Shekhar shared, “Something strange happened on Thursday. A friend called me and asked if I could help him get tickets to Masoom. I told him that was a bad joke. But then… On Thursday, one cinema hall had filled up… then on Friday there were lines of people waiting to buy tickets… and over the weekend the distributors were scrambling to get back the halls they had given up, and my ‘Article’ film was declared a hit.”He was elated and shocked, wondering, “What happened that weekend? People say in retrospect it was ‘Word of mouth’ .. but how could it be, when hardly anyone saw the film?”The filmmaker is now planning to make a sequel, and concluded his throwback post saying, “What happened that Thursday?.. I still wonder as I am about to go into making ‘Masoom, the next generation’… years after Masoom the original became a cult film…Is ‘Masoom, the next generation’ another ‘Article film’?”
About the cast and crew of ‘Masoom’
Directed by Shekhar Kapur, the movie was written by Gulzar. It had a stellar star cast with Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi in the lead. Bollywood’s beloved Jugal Hansraj, Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana Srivastav (as Baby Aradhana) were the child artists in this 1983 drama.
