Befikre Box Office Prediction

Aditya Chopra’s 4th directorial venture after ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Mohabbatein’ and ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ is all set to release in theatres tomorrow. ‘Befikre’ is special for other reasons as well:

• It’s Aditya Chopra’s first directorial venture without Shah Rukh Khan in the lead.
• He returns 8 years after his last film, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which also released in the 2nd week of December (2008).
• Chopra is one of the few directors in the industry who has a 100% success record to his name. None of his films have failed at the box office.

Apart from those factors which will add tremendous credibility to the film, ‘Befikre’ has quite a few other factors in its favour:

• Ranveer Singh returns a year after the biggest film of his career, Bajirao Mastani.
• The music of the film has gained popularity in the weeks leading up to the release.
• Even though the theatrical trailer received a mixed response when it released, it has grown over the audience.
• The impact of demonetisation has reduced quite considerably in the last couple of weeks, it may not be a big issue for Befikre.

The negatives:

• It’s a niche film targeted only at the urban youth. The older section of people (35 plus age group) and family audience are unlikely to come out to theatres.
• There has also been a steady flow of urban multiplex films in the last few weeks. ADHM worked, Rock On 2 didn’t, while Dear Zindagi was a moderate success too. Even last week’s Kahaani 2 was a multiplex film.
• Vaani Kapoor hasn’t been liked in the promos.

IndicineFBO: We expect Befikre to collect Rs 10.5 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day. It’ll be a solid start for the film. If it manages to show growth over the weekend from a 10 crore plus start, recovery should not be a problem as the film has 2 open weeks before the release of Aamir Khan’s Dangal.