#AskIndicine: Question and Answer Session at 7PM

Even though the last #AskIndicine was just 4 days ago, we were planning on a quick QnA session today. Please vote and tell us if you want #AskIndicine today. If more than 50% of people vote for YES, we start at 7PM, else we’ll push it to Sunday.

Note: Starts at 7PM. We apologise for the delay. 93% voted for YES? Thank you.

You can post your questions in the comments section below.

Q. Is Sultan and Raees confirmed? There was news that Salman wanted to postpone it – Sridhar

A. We published an article earlier today that Sultan has ‘not’ been delayed. That news was confirmed from a source at Yash Raj Films. The film is on schedule to release in theatres during Eid next year. Salman Khan wants Eid, he’s been successful during that period and he wouldn’t want to let go of it unless he doesn’t have a film ready for release – like 2013.

Q. Now looking at the hold of both Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale on Tuesday, Your earlier LBO prediction was too early i guess. Now looking after the tuesday collection of both the movies , tooth and nail fight! Indicine, your take now? – Durgesh

A. Our LBO prediction was delayed by two days. Since predictions are difficult to make, it can go either way. Our logic behind the prediction was simple. Films that carry good word of mouth, usually do 3 – 4 times its first weekend. And films that carry mixed word-of-mouth do around 2 – 2.5 times weekend. Dilwale, looking at the trends, seems to be carrying mixed reports. However, the coming weekend will be crucial. Rohit Shetty’s films are huge with the family audience and it’s during Christmas that they come out in big numbers. Dilwale can turn things around, all it needs is one big jump. If it does 15 crore plus on Christmas holiday, then it’s certain to collect more than what we predicted – because the second weekend business can then cross the 35 crore mark. It’s way too early to write off the film.

Q. When can we expect a first look poster of Mohenjo Daro? Any chance of it on Jan 10th on Hrithik’s b’day? Also any idea of the production cost for Mohenjo Daro?

A. Hrithik once told us that he’s uncomfortable about all the hype around his birthday. So we doubt the makers of Mohenjo Daro have any plans of releasing a poster on his birthday. There hasn’t been any official confirmation either. Releasing the poster nearly 8 months before the film, doesn’t make sense. A effective marketing strategy is when the entire marketing campaign is short. A month is good enough, even for big films. In today’s times, we get to see the two trailers, full song videos and 5-6 dialogues promos before the release, so the audience has already seen around 20% of the film before watching it in theatre. After that they end up reading both positive and negative reviews. When they eventually get to the ticket counter, they know much more about the movie than they should. Marketing campaigns for big concept films should be like PK. The audience was curious to know what the film is all about. Doesn’t work for every film, but from an audience point of view, we hope they watch the trailer and decide whether they want to watch the film or not. Please don’t read reviews, it ends up ruining the movie experience.

Q. Please let us have clear picture on screen allocations between Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani

A. 2600 for Bajirao Mastani, 3000 for Dilwale. This includes shared screens.

Q. Does SRK’s upcoming movies place him in the category of greatest actor? – Ranbir Singh

A. He is already one of the greatest actors the Indian film industry has produced. He has made money, earned famed, commercial acclaim, critical acclaim, won awards, Padma Shri, several International awards and recognitions. There is nothing left for him to achieve. The question now is, how many more years he can sustain the level he has maintained for the last 20 odd years. That’s about it. If he retires today, he’ll be still remembered as a legend.

Q. Ranveer or Salman? Who will win the Filmare award for the Best Actor? 

A. Ranveer is the top contender now, he has already won the Guild award. Salman is unlucky as far as awards are concerned. Don’t think he cares, because the last time he was supposed to receive an award, he attended the ceremony but left minutes before he was declared the winner. Also, films that release in the last quarter of the year, tend to have a better chance of winning awards. However, Filmfare is 50% audience voting and 50% jury. So the performance you like, make sure you vote to make that 50% count.

Q. Shahid Kapoor’s upcoming movies Udta Punjab and Rangoon may have 50 crore and 100 crore budget respectively. So if both movies get great trailer reviews and great word-of-mouth, then is there possibility that he will get Hit or Super Hit movies? Anshi Goel

A. A Shahid Kapoor movies cannot be made on a budget of Rs 100 crore. A lot of people misunderstand collections. If a film costing 100 crore, earns 100 crore at the box office, it’s a failure, because the distributor / producer only get approximate 50% of the collections. The rest of it goes to the people who screen the film i.e the exhibitors / theatre owners. Of course, there are other means to recover the investment like Satellite, Music rights etc. The reported budget that Rangoon is being made on is Rs 55-60 crore. It’ll be difficult to recover, simply because of the fact that Vishal Bhardwaj films do not go on to be huge commercial hits, even if they get critical acclaim. But one thing we have learnt from the success of Bajirao Mastani – never write off a film. Any film. Who knows, Rangoon could be a 120 crore plus grosser, if it finds appreciation.

Q. Compared to the budget that it has been made on, Bajirao Mastani is under performing right? – Nathal

A. Not really. The same collections would have been considered to be good, even if it released solo. The trend over the weekend and during the weekdays is much more important than the opening that a film takes. Tanu Weds Manu Returns started at 8 crore, finished with 150 crore! Vidya Balan’s Kahaani started at 2.75 crore, did 63 crore lifetime. On the other hand, Besharam did 21 crore first day, finished with 57 crore. So a film that starts slow and then gains momentum, is always more likely to performs better than a film that starts with a bang and fizzles out. The fact that Bajirao Mastani has matched the collections of Dilwale in its 4th day itself, is a big deal for the entire team. Every investor is happy and celebrating.

Q. Don’t you think 25th Dec was better option for Dilwale to release instead of 18th Dec?

A. What’s the point discussing this now? Both films have released, one is performing beyond expectations, other is steady during the weekdays. Let’s hope both films do well.

Q. How will you rate out of 10 in acting skills for these new crop like Varun Dhawan, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput, Sidharth Malhotra. Please answer, Indicine.

A. Personal choice. In this order of preference; Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sushant Singh Rajput, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra and Arjun Kapoor. We’d like to know what you all think too.