AskIndicine: Live Now

Q. Who do you think who will be most successful in this decade?

A. It’ll be tough to beat Salman Khan this decade. He already has 8 blockbusters. So unless Aamir Khan starts doing more films or SRK turns things around and delivers 4-5 consecutive blockbusters, Salman has already done enough to top this decade.

Q. Do you still think Tubelight will collect 146 crore as per your prediction?

A. No, it’ll fall well short. Even a 130 crore total is looking difficult, the film has crashed.

Q. In your last Q&A session you said that Dhoom 3 & Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo are the top two most expensive movies of Bollywood made till date and Padmavati is going to break all records of Bollywood in terms of budget. But in your site I saw the budget of Dhoom 3 and PRDP was 115 cr. And Mohenjo-Daro and BAJIRAO MASTANI budget was 138 cr and 130 cr respectively. Pls can you clear my doubt.And tell me the top 5 most expensive movies of Bollywood.And whats the budget of Padmavati and SRK dwarf film. Pls I am asking it for the third time(list of expensive movies) Pls I hope you will not disappoint me.

A. Sometimes, we also mention the acquisition cost of films i.e the price for which the theatrical rights were sold for. Purely in terms of the amount of money spent on production, Padmavati is going to be the most expensive Hindi film of all time. It’s budget will cross 170 crore. SRK-Aanand L Rai film will be expensive too, the shooting schedule is one of the longest for SRK and he’ll be expanding his VFX team too. It’s an ambitious film, which can go on to be a major grosser for SRK. The other big budget film will be ‘Thugs of Hindostan’.

Q. What is your Prediction now for Tubelight ? The movie is almost crashed since Friday is just 2 crore ?

A. 125 crore lifetime.

Q. Which is biggest flop between FAN & TUBELIGHT ?

A. Theatrically, Tubelight is the bigger failure as distributors lost more money on the film. The losses are humongous for the distributors, but producers of Tubelight made a lot of money. A better comparison would be Dilwale vs Tubelight. Both films were profitable for the producers, distributors lost. But SRK covered some of the distributors losses on Dilwale, which was a very nice gesture.

Q. Is there any chance of Akshay Kumar overtaking Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in terms of box office opening after the disaster of Tubelight and average collections of SRK movies?

A. Salman Khan is way ahead at the moment. Both in terms of opening and average lifetime collections of his last 3 films. He can only be compared to Aamir Khan. Shah Rukh is ahead of Akshay in terms of opening and even a ‘Jolly LLB 2’ with a solo release, fell well below the collections of Raees. And barring the last two films (FAN and Raees), SRK films used to easily outgross Akshay’s highest grosser. So both in terms of opening and lifetime, there’s a significant gap between the Khans and the rest – both in India and Overseas.

Q. How Much Jagga Jasoos Need to collect for the Clean hit Status? And how’s response from trade as well as audiences after 2nd theatrical trailer….

A. It has to collect more than 100 crore. The costs have increased due to re-shoots and delay in releasing the film. The 2nd trailer has received a mixed response. The concern for ‘Jagga Jasoos’ is, the film looks interesting from the promos, Ranbir holds attention. But holding attention over a 2 minute promo is easy, but making this kind of film engrossing for more than 2 hours is going to be the challenge. We think it’s either going to be a runaway acclaimed hit or fall flat. There’s unlikely to be anything in between for a film like this.

Q. Do you think Jab Harry Met Sejal can beat Tubelight’s 64cr weekend (as was without festival) in normal 3 days if the word-of-mouth is partly negative?

A. It would need excellent word-of-mouth for a 65-crore weekend. From what we’ve seen so far from the promos of Jab Harry Met Sejal, it’s unlikely to come anywhere close to 20 crore on the first day. We’ll have to wait for the trailer and hope it’s better. Even a film like Tubelight has made one thing very clear, star power alone means nothing if it isn’t backed with box office favouring content. The star in both Fan and Raees were the same, but on a partial holiday FAN did 19 crore (actual value after deducting holiday advantage is around 15-16 crore), but Raees with excellent promos did 20 crore on a non-holiday inspite of clash with another big film.

Q. Who will collect more Toilet Ek Prem Katha or Jab Harry Met Sejal?

A. We’d put our money on Toilet Ek Prem Katha at this point in time, as it should appeal towards a far larger section of the audience. The trailer has received a very good response and there’s plenty of positivity about the film in the trade too. Having said that, we’d have to wait to see what sort of response the two films get from the audience.

Q. What is the life time collection of Bahubali 2 in Hindi version?

A. Rs 510 crore net. All Time Blockbuster.

Q. Your prediction for JHMS is just 130 crore.now JHMS have solo release having partial holiday on Monday.so in my opinion JHMS can collect 130 crore in 1st week itself with positive or even mixed word of mouth.what you have to say about this ?

A. 130 crore isn’t a small number. Raees collected 130 crore even though it opened to 20 crore on Day 1. It’s difficult for a film like JHMS (again, from what we’ve seen so far) to collect 130 crore in the first week, because that would mean the opening has to be in the 25 crore range and weekend 80 crore. Highly unlikely for this sort of film, even with the added backup of corporate bookings etc that SRK manages to get.

Q. Do you think Hindi industry is in a crisis with newcomers not getting the hits and the superstars not getting the big grossers….and after bahubali and dangal noone else in the industry is able to get the audiences back to theaters.

A. The problem is the content. The audience is there, more than willing to pay for the right film that entertains. But even some of our major stars and directors have now started making films that only the metro city audience can relate to. And even at metro cities, the audience for most of the films that are made today, is limited.

Q. Wasn’t the trailer of Toilet-EPK released a bit early. Normally trailers are released around 40 days before the film. But isn’t 2 months too long? Audience might lose interest (like it happened with Baby). Want to know your take on this.

A. Raees Teaser was released a year and half before its theatrical release, yet it retained its freshness. So we can’t be generalising. The audience is willing to wait if they like the trailer. The campaign of ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ is a little different from other films. It’s a film that they’ve made for a social cause, to increase awareness on the need for toilets and cleanliness. It’s still a word-of-mouth film. It should take a solid initial, but the goal seems to be to get as many people as possible to watch the film. Educate and entertain at the same time.

Q. Can judwaa 2 cross 20 cr nett mark in south states his previous highest is abcd 2 – 13 cr

A. In south states? If you are talking about all-India collections, Judwaa 2 has a very good chance of crossing the 15 crore mark and getting closer to 20 crore on Day 1. It’s a big film that most would want to watch.

Q. Comedy films haven’t done well in recent times, will this affect Judwaa 2, atleast as far as expectations are concermed coz it’s not a big franchise like Golmaal.

A. Well made comedy films will always have an audience. It’s just that we haven’t had those films in recent times.

Q. Gold, Crack or Mogul- which is potentially the biggest film among these three?

A. It’s too early to comment on any of those films, but from what we’ve heard, it would be Gold.

Q. Can Tubelight still beat Raees and Rowdy Rathore to become the highest grosser of the year 2017 so far and the month of June respectively?

A. No.

Q. After Tubelight flops at BO can we say that RAEES is the winner of First half of the year? Also Raees is a highest grossing hindi movie 2017.

A. Bahubali 2 aside, Raees is the biggest grosser. But the most successful film in the first half of 2017 is Badrinath Ki Dulhania.

Q. Padmavati has to be an outstanding film to get anywhere close to recovering its costs, going by the speed at which the makers are determined to complete the film, they might have to compromise on the quality somewhere or the other. Won’t that be a risk?