Which film had better word-of-mouth PK or Bajrangi Bhaijaan?

Continuation of New Year’s QnA, where we answer a few more questions from readers. If you haven’t read the QnA that was held 4 days ago, then CLICK HERE

Q. Which film had better word-of-mouth PK or Bajrangi Bhaijaan?

A. Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It had higher footfalls, performed better at mass centres, had competition from other releases, had fewer holidays and yet managed to collect as much as PK. It not only carried better word-of-mouth, but it would have most certainly collected Rs 350 crore plus if it released during Christmas. While PK had a free and open run at the box office for 3 weeks, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had several films competing against it. Baahubali, which released a week before Bajrangi Bhaijaan, had a huge second week at the box office. Two weeks after the release of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, another acclaimed film like Drishyam released.

Another example of competition and release period affecting business is PK collected Rs 63 crore after its second week, while Bajrangi Bhaijaan collected Rs 49 crore. Also, Christmas is a better release period than Eid, because of the number of holidays.

Word-of-mouth wise, PK managed to generate extreme reactions. A section of the audience did not like the film at all, whereas Bajrangi Bhaijaan was loved universally.

Q. Ram Lakhan remake, does it star Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor?

A. There hasn’t been any confirmation yet. They might have a few names in mind, but Rohit Shetty will begin scripting for the film this month. After which, they will approach actors. Until then, everything you read will be nothing more than a rumour.

Q. What is the production budget of Mohenjo Daro? (Pradhan)

A. The cost of production will be 80-90 crore plus without including Hrithik Roshan’s fee. It’s a humongous film, but since it has been mostly shot in India, it’s easier to keep the budget under control. A more accurate approximate budget will be known a few weeks prior to release.

Q. By the failure of Dilwale it has affected SRK stardom? (Akshay Rajput)

A. Who says Dilwale has failed? It’s one of the Top 10 highest worldwide grossers and Top 5 Highest Overseas grosser of all time. There is only one main reason why Dilwale has underperformed in the domestic market and that is the clash with Bajirao Mastani.

Q. What’s your prediction for Airlift? Considering the hype.. has it got any chances to do 15 crore on Day 1?

A. It’s easy to get carried away by hype on social media, but the fact is, Baby was trending for nearly 15 days continuously, but it didn’t take a 10 crore plus opening. There is no chance of Airlift doing 15 crore plus on Day 1, a total in the region of 10 crore would be considered a fairly good first day. The film has limited appeal at mass centres, which is Akshay’s strong hold. Also, there is the clash factor and there is a good chance that the first day collections of both films will be in the same range. Kya Kool Hain Hum is a popular franchise, which should ensure a good / very good opening.

Q. What is the overall growth of business of Indian Box office in 2015 against 2014? (Khan)

A. No growth, business was down by around 10-15% in 2015. Check out these numbers; there were nine 100 crore grossers and three 200 crore grossers in 2014. In 2015, there were just six 100 crore grossers and two 200 crore grossers. 2015 wasn’t a great year, the industry continues to rely on one or two stars to deliver those big grossers. The masala and rom com genre have literally come crashing down this year.

Q. India belongs to population of 125 crore plus, but if we see the footfalls then just 2% of population sees the movies in theatres [that too Bajrangi Bhaijaan, PK, Gadar etc] and for other movies not even 1% of population comes to watch a movie.. as Bollywood is one of biggest entertainment industry in India but why so less footfalls? Is there any chance of getting 10 cr footfalls in near future? What’s your take on this?

A. Good question. You are right. Not more than 2-3% of the population watches films in theatres and we are talking about those big 300 crore plus grossers here. And even the 100 crore grossers are watched by less 1% of the population. There are several issues that affects the business of films. The first is piracy. While it’s illegal, from an audience point of view, it’s fast, easy and hassle free. You do not need to step out of your house, spend money on fuel and ticket to watch a film that you may not like. Which brings us to the second point, which is price of tickets. The price of a multiplex ticket is insane these days. In metro cities, some tickets for Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale were priced at Rs 1000 plus. An outing for a family here would be Rs 3000-4000, without even including snacks, travel and parking costs. Prices reduce during the weekdays, but who has the time? So watching a movie in a theatre is only worth the expense, when there are movies that are carrying excellent word-of-mouth like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Bajirao Mastani or PK. These films deserve to be watched on the big screen, so when friends highly recommend, people are willing to spend. So both content and scale have to fall in place for a film to carry that ‘Must watch on a big screen’ tag, which only happens for 2-3 movies every year.  Thirdly, the industry lacks crowd-pullers. The fact that the Khans continue to rule the industry even after 25 years. With all due credit to them, the industry really hasn’t produced a superstar after Hrithik Roshan in 2000. Ranveer, Ranbir and Varun are promising, but they have a long way to go, especially at mass centres.

To answer your second question of 10 crore footfalls, it’s highly unlikely until we achieve the following; 1. Multiplex penetration should increase to smaller cities and towns. 2. Ticket should be more affordable and snacks should be sanely priced. 3. Content should improve, filmmakers have the tough task of producing films that appeal beyond those 75-100 cities. Since multiplexes are generating all the moolah, the masses are being ignored. 4. We need to curb piracy. 5. The industry desperately needs more bankable stars who do 2-3 films per year.

Q. Which is tougher: Doing 4 films and giving couple of hits and couple of average grossers like Akshay Kumar or doing one film and giving blockbusters like Aamir Khan? (Ayush)

A. The whole argument of business getting affecting because an actor does more films, doesn’t carry much weight. It’s more of an excuse than a logical argument. Yes, films of big actors need to be spaced out, but 3-4 months is enough gap as long as the content is upto the mark. Bajrangi Bhaijaan released less than 4 months after PRDP and the combined collections of the two films was Rs 535 crore in India alone. Akshay himself has released Singh Is Bling just 45 days after Brothers, and it took a 20 crore opening. So the problem is not the frequency of release, but the content.  When you do 4 films a year, the compromise is probably made on producing quality content. When 2 or 3 bad films are released, the audience tends to give up on an actor, which is probably the case with Akshay Kumar films at multiplexes. Marketing campaigns of his films also do not create the kind of awareness that is needed either. The normal audience sometimes isn’t even aware about the next Akshay Kumar film, we have been noticing this lately, a few people were clueless about the fact that Singh Is Bliing was releasing! Irrespective of the number of films that an actor does, if you consistently begin to disappoint your fanbase with mediocre films, the footfalls will gradually reduce over time.

Q. Why SRK is still stuck in 150 crore to 200 crore movies? When Salman and Aamir given 300 crore+ in India only. I think SRK should do films with good script.

A.  You asked the question and answered it yourself. A superstar can only give his film a chance to score 300 crore i.e by giving a 30 crore range opening. The rest depends on how the content is accepted by the audience. For example, Salman was the common factor in Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PRDP. One did 321, other did 210. The difference is word-of-mouth.

Q. Since Christmas and New year holiday is falling on Sunday what should be the ideal release date for Dangal, 16th or 23rd? Will releasing it on 16th be beneficial? (Aashish Thapar)

A. A lot will depend on how well the film shapes up and also the genre. If it’s a slightly off-beat film that will open slow (by Aamir’s standards of course) and then grow phenomenally like PK did, then releasing it on 16th would make sense. Otherwise, we think 23rd is a better date. The distributor’s share in the first week of release is higher as compared to second, and a huge chunk of the business in second week (holiday week) will go to the exhibitors if they release on 16th. Either way, Dangal would get 2-3 open weeks because very few medium / big budget films release in the first week of January. One other point, this year Christmas falls on Sunday, so that extra national holiday advantage won’t be there this year.

End of QnA. If you haven’t read the QnA that was held 4 days ago, then CLICK HERE