AskIndicine: Has ended

Q. Was postponing Haseena a good move by the makers? Your bold prediction for it makes me question it.

A. The film is going to be a disaster, unless the film turns out to be extremely well made. The trailer hasn’t generated any interest amongst the audience to watch the film and Shraddha’s performance seems to be weak too. The audience isn’t giving such films a chance anymore, Haseena could even struggle to cross half the lifetime business of Ok Jaanu.

Q. Best and worst marketing campaigns as per you?

A. We can’t think of effective marketing campaigns anymore. Dangal was the most effective in recent times, Ki and Ka was good too last year. Right now it’s the same routine which every film follows. The results are in front of us. What’s the use of spending so much on marketing and PR when films like ‘A Gentleman’ are opening at 4 crore?  A good trailer was ruined by a poor marketing campaign and boring looking songs. The best song was released last. Hollywood films are opening without much promotion. Annabelle opened at nearly 5 crore without month long campaign or hundreds celebrity interviews.

Q. What is the current Status of A Gentleman. Can it become Hit?

A. The target now is to avoid ‘Disaster’ status. The film has no chance at the box office. Our final IndicineLBO prediction for the film is 20 crore.

Q. Love your site! Belated happy Ganesh Chaturthi. Don’t think the marketing team should do a better job with projecting the content to the audience in segregated parts? It’s ironic considering the marketing for most films today usually make them less appealing, a direct contradiction to what they should do!

A. Thank you. Marketing has become ineffective now. The audience isn’t coming to cinema halls and for that to change, films have to look exciting from the trailer. The only effective way to promote a film is screening the trailer at theatres, along with promos on television. That creates awareness. But awareness alone won’t increase ticket sales, the trailer and song promos have to excite the audience, which most films are failing to do. Watching stars on television, reading their interviews, seeing them at malls etc.. won’t convert into ticket sales. Only good promos can sell tickets.

Q. Jab Harry Met Sejal worldwide verdict?

A. There is nothing like ‘worldwide verdict’. Domestic business is most important for a film. When domestic distributors lose so heavily, it’s a big failure irrespective of how the film performed overseas. Disaster is the verdict.

Q. Good trailer response and hit music of Baadshaho looking like good buzz everywhere. What is ur FBO and LBO of Baadshaho right now?

A. We are not sensing interest or hype around Baadshaho, the promos haven’t generated the kind of interest a big film like this should. It’s certainly not even as much as Jolly LLB 2, Badrinath Ki Dulhania or Toilet: EPK. We don’t think the film will get a good initial at multiplexes, single screens is a possibility. Bakrid release will help, but we are not looking at single-digit total for Baadshaho in IndicineFBO. We hope we are wrong, but these days when we get the prediction wrong, most films are falling well below the prediction.

Q. What can be the possible reason for such a low opening for Gentleman? I believe the movie is not that bad?

A. It isn’t a bad film. The word-of-mouth is mixed, but ‘average’ content isn’t good enough for the audience anymore. A family movie outing is way too expensive in today’s times. Not worth it when the film isn’t ‘highly recommended’.

Q. Is Shraddha Kapoor’s career back on track? She was in the top 3 for a long time and I still think she has the most hardcore fan base out there.

A. She’s going downhill, age is no longer on her side too. Haseena is likely to fail. Saaho is a big film, but it may not change much for her here.

Q. Star power and audience trust.What is difference?

A. Star power is when the audience pay to watch the film for the star. Like a Rajnikanth in Kabali. Put any other actor in the film and it wouldn’t generate anywhere close to the kind of interest that ‘Kabali’ did in the south. Audience trust is harder to achieve, because films can go wrong. Akshay Kumar is now gaining the audience trust, which he had completely lost a few years ago. But the other side of winning over the audience trust is the expectation side of it. When they expect good films, you need to deliver. Two bad films can bring the trust graph down. That’s where Aamir has excelled, he’s sustained the trust of the audience for more than a decade now.

Q. Every film is opening below expectations, do you think TZH can change it or it will face the same fate ?

A. All eyes will be on the upcoming big films to see how they open. Judwaa 2 should take a good opening. Golmaal Again will be huge too. We’ll comment on Tiger Zinda Hai after the trailer is out. If the trailer makes a huge splash, then there’s a definite chance of the film surprising on the higher side. The audience is extremely choosy now, films that are worthy enough to be experienced on the big screen will benefit from this.

Q. What’s the final verdict of Tubelight, since we know that Salman has compensate (around 35cr) Distributors for Tubelight loss, does it change the final verdict of Tubelight to Below Average or Average?

A. Verdict cannot change after compensation. The film is a theatrical flop.

Q. Is there any chance of Judwaa 2 touching 20 cr mark on Day 1 if the songs are good?

A. Unlikely, but anything is possible at the box office. We’ll have to wait and see the level of interest to watch the film when the release date nears.

Q. Currently who is bigger star? Shraddha or Jacqueline?

A. Both aren’t bankable stars.

Q. What goes in the audition that non-talents like Armaan Jain and Aadar Jain make it to the big screen debut by such big production houses ?

A. He obviously got the film because of his family background. But just being a star kid, does not make him or her a good actor. We’ve had success stories like Alia, Ranbir, Varun and few others.. who have had good starts to their career and sustained for a few years too. But we’ve also had hundreds of other stars who’ve failed. Aadar Jain worked under Habib Faisal, who also launched Arjun Kapoor in Ishaqzaade. Arjun and Parineeti were impressive and the film was good too. This time around, nothing worked and it was clear from the trailer itself that Aadar Jain was too wooden.

Q. What has gone wrong with films that are being made by Yashraj ? Befikre, Bank Chor and Qaidi Band all have tanked at the boxoffice ?

A. Almost all their small films have tanked and even some of their bigger films have disappointed the audience. Dhoom 3 worked big time, but it wasn’t exactly the film that was loved, but the brand and Aamir’s presence that carried it. FAN was a major failure. Befikre was rejected. So clearly, there seems to be some problem with the creative team, especially Aditya Chopra. He has lost his hold over the audience, because there was a time in the mid-2000s when every YRF film was working at the box office. These are their last 10 films – Bewakoofiyaan, Mardaani, Daawat-e-Ishq, Kill Dil, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Fan, Sultan, Befikre, Meri Pyaari Bindu, Qaidi Band. Barring Sultan which was Salman and a small success like Dum Laga Ke Haisha, all other films have failed. It’s a dismal record for what was the biggest banner in the industry.

Q. Do, you think doing Race 3 is a good decision by Salman ? Since Race 3 sounds great but Remo sounds somewhat fearful as a director ?

A. Remo D’Souza isn’t a good director, but he’s been lucky with the ABCD films. Race 3 is definitely a better option than the dance film. More after the official announcement.

Q. As someone who visits your site everyday and this session every week religiously, I have one suggestion. Can you please avoid answering repetitive questions… I see every week there are some questions like Akshay vs. Salman/SRK, SRK’s dwindling career, What will make SRK comeback, Akshay’s strategy of small budget high-concept films, Aamir’s strategy, etc. While I understand that you might be getting a lot of traffic from fans of these stars, it would help if you try and answer diversified questions so that readers of this site (I am sure there are are many like me who check out every QnA) will not feel the questions repetitive.

A. We’ve tried to answer different questions today. But most questions are usually related to what’s currently going on in the industry. We’ve only done 3 QnA’s after the JHMS debacle and two of them after Toilet – both of which explains why many questions have been centered around Akshay’s strategy and SRK’s recent downfall. Most actors want to see these actors remain competitive and at the top of their game, especially SRK who has a lot of well-wishers and fans who are concerned. We’ll try to answer different questions, but because we do the QnAs weekly and we keep getting new visitors every week, answer can sometimes repeat. Thanks for your interest.

That’s it for today. Thank you for joining us.