AskIndicine: QnA Live Now

AskIndicine QnA at 4PM today. Post your questions in the comments section below.

Q. Is it true Mohenjo Daro trailer launching in the next 3-4 days? – Vaibhav

A. Yes, Ashutosh Gowariker has confirmed that the trailer of Mohenjo Daro will be released in 3-4 days. Should be out this week, expected on Wednesday.

Q. Can Akshay kumar’s Housefull 3 cross the life time collection of Housefull 2?

A. It’ll be touch and go. Would be able to give a better answer on Monday. If it holds to 7.5 crore plus on Monday, then it has every chance of beating Housefull 2. Else, it’ll be difficult. Our final IndicineLBO Prediction for Housefull 3 is Rs 105 crore.

Q. How is the response to the trailer of Dishoom amongst the trade and the general movie going audience as well? Are there any reports above the music of the film?

A. The response to the trailer is mixed, not as positive as it should be – both in the trade and amongst the general audience. As for music, there are a couple of good songs.

Q. Why did Houseful 3 underperform on its opening day? Will it raise questions on Akshay Kumar’s stardom? – Ashish Thapar

A. Average trailer and lack of popular songs are the main reasons. To answer the second part of your question, the last Akshay Kumar film that took a good (above expectation) opening was Rowdy Rathore. Since then, almost all his films have struggled to get an initial that falls in the ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ category. Even the real-value of Singh Is Bling without the holiday advantage is around 13 crore. He’s been consistent with 12-15 crore opening, but has struggled to take it to the next level even with big budget / franchise films / when his films released during favourable periods or holidays.

Q. Can you please let us know about the shooting schedule of SRK ? When will he start with Aanand’s movie , and Imitiaz’s movie ? Also what are their probable release dates ?

A. Imtiaz Ali film starts in July / August. Will be announced next month too. Aanand L Rai’s movie is being made on a bigger budget, once the star cast and dates are finalised the film will go on floors. Gauri Shinde film this year, Raees in the first half of 2017. Imtiaz Ali film in the second half of 2017. Aanand L Rai film is announced for Christmas. All tentative.

Q. Any idea about Mohenjo Daro first look, teaser and trailer are coming out?

A. Trailer is coming out this week, the poster will be released too.

Q. Who is currently biggest star in term of openings? – Sheharyar

A. Salman Khan, undisputed right now. Way ahead of the rest.

Q. Your views on the box office performance of Housefull 3?Has it performed well in the domestic and overseas markets?Also,even though it’s a bit early to predict, do you think the film has a chance to do 100 crores and eventually emerge a hit?

A. So far, both the opening and the trend is average i.e in the domestic (India) market. Overseas, it has exceeded expectations, more so because of its genre. It wasn’t expected to do as well as it has. We have already given our final LBO prediction – 105 crore.

Q. How are MS Dhoni biopic, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Befikre shaping up? Also, how has Dishoom shaped up? Can the success of any these films take the lead actors one step closer to superstardom and becoming a bankable male lead or they will need few more string of releases for that?

A. Story will be the strong point of MS Dhoni biopic and Neeraj Pandey is an excellent director, the pre-release reports are good. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’s music reports are outstanding, it could / should be the best album of the year. It’ll open very well at multiplexes and overseas. We do not know anything about Befikre, too early to comment too. ‘Superstardom’ takes years to achieve, Ranbir has had quite a few failures recently, Sushant with all due respect can’t guarantee a initial on his own. Ranveer has made his presence felt, is the most promising star among younger generation of actors – but still has a long way to go before he gets into the big league (4 stars currently).

Q. Is there any chance of Housefull 3 crossing 150 crore?

A. Highly unlikely. Vote below and let us know.

Q. Why is it that Housefull 3 has underperformed at the massy centres,where Akshay Kumar has a massive following? Please correct me if I’m wrong,though I’m just going by your articles.

A. It’s music that ensures a good opening at smaller centres (doesn’t apply to Salman Khan), and that’s where Housefull 3 was lacking. A better promo and better music would have probably given the film a 17 crore plus opening.

Q. Why science fiction genre still remains untouched in Bollywood?

A. Krrish films have been very successful. Rest have failed. Budget constraints and comparisons with Hollywood  - make the genre very risky for anyone to attempt. We don’t have too many directors who are capable enough to handle such big films either. Shankar has been successful in the south, Robot 2 will be ‘huge’.

Q. If Sultan release on Eid holiday, how much collection will be on Day 1?

A. We have been hearing that YRF is targeting the Eid holiday. Anything is possible, but should most certainly be 40 crore plus. Some well-known trade analysts have been talking about 50. Can’t rule that out. Salman has done it before. Sultan is the biggest event film of the year, it’ll get the showcasing it deserves.

Q. Don’t you think if Hrithik would have atleast two releases every year he would have been way ahead than Khans by now? Also don’t you think Hrithik is wasting his peak years by not doing films in between looking at the talent he has?

A. In the last 10 years, Hrithik has done just 9 films. That’s too less and doesn’t really give him a chance to compete for the top spots. Having said that, not all actors want to get into the number game. They like working at their own pace and at the end the day, even though fans would like to see a lot more of him, it’s finally his decision on how many films he wants to do.

The problem has been the scale – films like Bang Bang, Krrish 3, Jodha Akbar, Mohenjo Daro – take a lot more time to shoot and complete – as compared to a film like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. To do 2 films a year or one film every 8-9 months, you need to do one small film that can be shot in 2-3 months. That hasn’t been the case for Hrithik, because almost all his films are biggies budget and scale wise.

Q. Will TE3N affect business of Housefull 3 in Second week?

A. No.

Q. Is that true that Akshay is doing a movie called Toilet, with Neeraj Pandey?

A. Yes, the film has been titled ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’. Satire comedy on the cleanliness and sanitation. It could also promote and spread awareness about PM’s cleanliness initiative Swacch Bharat Abhiyan.

Q. Now a days big festive and holiday dates are being booked very early (even 1 or 2 years before the actual date) that too without starting the filming. Example: Kabir Khan’s next, Sons of Sardaar). So what is your opinion about big films booking the festive dates even before starting filming and SRK’s decision to not announce the release dates before starting filming of the movie? Do you think it’s a bad decision by SRK?

A. No difference. We have already seen this with Raees and Sultan. Sultan was announced before it went on floors and Raees makers announced their dates much earlier after their film went on floors. The bigger star (current standing) will get the bigger dates. There isn’t enough space for two major stars to release their film on the same day. A lesser star film might want to challenge, if the makers are confident of content – like we saw with Bajirao Mastani last year.

When someone like Aamir announced PK, other films that were announced for the same date, moved. No one has the guts to take on Dangal this year either – even though two films combined generated more than 300 crore during Christmas last year. So it all depends on the current standing for actors, as soon as that weakens, people will target you – whether you announce early or late, doesn’t really matter.

Q. Is Hrithik doing YRF #Thug also starring Big B?

A. Yes. Confirmation after official announcement.

Q. Captain America Civil War, Batman Vs Superman and X Men Apocalypse opened well at box office in India so why Bollywood dont interested in Super Heroes movies?

A. The budget of Batman vs Superman and Captain America: Civil War is Rs 1700 crore. And even though Batman vs Superman didn’t find much appreciation, it grossed 5800 crore globally.  Captain America: Civil War grossed 7500 crore globally.

Do we have that kind of budget? Even if we do, can we recover it? Can we match Hollywood standards? Do we have a visionary director who can pull off films of such scale? Will audience at smaller centres be willing to watch a classy superhero film? Will the metro city audience who watch Hollywood films on a regular basis, accept a substandard film – because of budget constraints? Too many questions, unfortunately the answer to almost all of them is a big NO.

Q. Which film could be big surprise success in 2016 like previous year we had Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Bajirao Mastani?

A. Neeraj Pandey’s MS Dhoni biopic, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra’s Mirziya and Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay could be those films.

Q. What is the current buzz of Mohenjo Daro? What’s the genre of the movie? Is it commercial film like Baahubali? or is it a Niche film like Lagaan, Devdaas, nd Swades? or is it a mixed type film like Jodha Akbar and Bajirao Mastani?

A. The buzz is huge. The trailer is highly anticipated and Hrithik returns after nearly two years. It’s a commercial film. Lagaan wasn’t niche, it was commercial and entertaining. Swades was completely off-beat. We haven’t seen the trailer, so we need to wait for that to know the look and feel of the film. We’ll analyse the trailer after it’s launch – both from an audience and trade perspective.

Q. Who is SRK?

A. A common man who became one of the biggest movie stars in the world? You know Indicine, but you don’t know SRK? Who are you?

Q. Son of Sardaar 2 was announced to release in Diwali 2017. But looking at Ajay’ s busy schedule do you think it will be possible to release it on 2017.

A. It’s not Son of Sardaar 2. It’s a completely different film titled ‘Sons of Sardaar’. No update on that for now.

Q. What could be the reason for houseful 3’s under performance? It was a complete entertainer for me though?

A. Too early to call it a film that has under-performed. Housefull 2 dropped on Day 2, Housefull 3 has shown growth. So let’s wait for a few more days. It would only be a under-performer if it doesn’t beat the previous film which released 4 years ago.

Q. Will Rustom collect more if it gets a solo release than it will do with clash with Mohenjo Daro?

A. Rustom is a word-of-mouth film, it won’t get a big initial. The target audience is at multiplexes, so content will be the key. Solo release is always better, because if a big film like Mohenjo Daro clicks and the response to Rustom is mixed, it could get swept away. Vice versa also holds true. Let’s wait for the Mohenjo Daro trailer, there are still chances of the clash getting averted.

Q. Rate Dishoom trailer out of 10?

A. 6 on 10. It’s looking like a ‘multiplex masala’ film. Won’t be story-driven, so Rohit Dhawan’s direction will be the key for the film to succeed. It has to be entertaining to work.

Q. Which are the best three male performances(acting) of 2016 so far in your opinion? – Nipun

A. Shah Rukh Khan in FAN, Akshay Kumar in Airlift, Randeep Hooda in Sarbjit.

Q. Why isn’t Akshay able to give a Bumper/ Excellent opening in the last few months? Can only the Khans and Hrithik deliver a bumper opening purely on stardom regardless of the genre?

A. Khans and Hrithik very rarely disappoint when it comes to opening. They usually match or exceed realistic expectations. Varun Dhawan has been very consistent with the opening of his films too. We don’t mean to say he’s hit the big league, but for a young actor to be as consistent as him and push upwards with each new film, it’s a big achievement.

Consistency is the key here. Akshay too has been consistently above the 10 crore mark, but expectation-wise he has disappointed more often than not. Mid-2000s he was at the top of his game, now content and word-of-mouth dependent after a steady start.

Q. It is very apparent now that films with good content are only doing well. And superstars are not able to sustain da audiences beyond the weekend if content is not good. However would it be fair to say that sultan is insulated from this phenomenon. And Salman + Eid would ensure min 200 crore even if the content is bad?

A. If content gets rejected, then 200 crore is difficult for any star. Word-of-mouth spread quickly these days, so if the film is not upto the mark, the collections will come down. But what the presence of actors like Salman / SRK / Aamir does is.. if the word-of-mouth is good, they are capable of bringing a lot more people to theatres – more so since they release their films during festivals. Since people know a Salman movie is coming during Eid, at smaller centres they save up on money to watch his films. It’s that connect that he has established with his audience for years, which is why he doesn’t want to let go of his Eid period.

Q. Can Housefull 3 cross the collections of Welcome Back?

A. It should. We’ll have a day-wise comparison up on our site tomorrow.

Q. Why don’t you update the TOP 10 Song section per month? It has been more than 1.5 years since you have stopped doing it.

A. We are working on this, should be up soon. There are hundreds of sites that put up Top 10 ranking, we want to do something different and unlike what’s already out there. There is an idea in place, should be up soon.

Q. Don’t you think if price of tickets come down by 25 to 30% movies with smaller star will perform well in cinemas ?

A. We already have a long and detailed article on this – Movie Ticket Pricing Strategy: Should all movies cost the same?

Q. Why indian censor board is still runs on old rules and regulation? Today due to internet many people are aware about many things but why they are so strict while compare to hollywood. Udta punjab is one film which may give good message about social evil i.e drug absue but they still has not give a certificate to UP, also demanded for 40 cuts. What is your take on censor controversy about Udta Punjab? And what is the budget of Udta Punjab and how much it need to be a hit? Please reply.

A. We really can’t comment on this, when we haven’t even watched the film. The Censor Board of Film Certification goes by the rule book, the rules might be outdated. So there is a team headed by Shyam Benegal that has been appointed to reform the Censor Board. It will take time, obviously. But like Anurag Kashyap has said, he has lots of options. Revision committee, Tribunal, Court.

Q. What about ‘Eega-2’ ? K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, the celebrated story writer said in an interview that Salman is doing it… What is the status ?

A. Scripting stage. Won’t release before 2018.

Q. There are reports of Aamir Khan being upset with YRF because of Sultan and Dangal being on same plot line.. how much is this true and whats the real issue?

A. Both movies are different. No issue. All good after Sultan trailer.

Q. This decade so far is the worst ever decade for the music of Bollywood. What do you think, why the quality of music is decreasing day by day? According to you, which era was the golden era of Bollywood music?

A. Taste of audience varies. The audience that grew up in the 90s will probably always like the music of the 90s. Just like the older generation say that the Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar can never be matched. Youngsters these days like songs like Kar Gayi Chull, nothing wrong in that. We also have had classics like Tum Hi Ho in the recent past. Don’t think it has been the worst decade, although we think the 90s music was far superior.

More than 35 questions were answered today. We have some more questions from ANK (Censor Board related) and a few others that will be answered in a separate article. Thank you for joining us. We apologise if your question wasn’t answered – we really can’t answer all of them.