Judwaa 2 Trailer Response and IndicineFBO

The trailer of ‘Judwaa 2’ released on Monday and like most ‘big films’ the response has been mixed. The trade is ecstatic, as the David Dhawan film has everything it takes to become a universal success. The reaction on the internet is mixed, with fans of the last ‘Judwaa’ film (1997) and fans of Salman Khan reacting negatively to the trailer.

The response from those who actually matter – the theatre going audience – will be updated after a survey.

For now, a quick update on the positives and a few concerns going forward.

Positives:

• Varun Dhawan: From the younger generation of actors, it’s difficult to imagine any other actor playing Salman’s double role from ‘Judwaa’. Varun is the best possible choice and even though a few have complained of the actor ‘overacting’ in the trailer, the response has generally been positive. We did try to get responses from children (they form a huge fanbase for Varun and most haven’t watched the first film) – the response from them was overwhelmingly positive.
• Among the two leading ladies, Taapsee has been liked more than Jacqueline.
• The music has made the audience nostalgic, so much so that the views for the old songs has increased after the launch of the trailer. To retain the curiosity of how Varun has performed to Salman songs, we hope they don’t release the full song promos.

Some concerns:

• Supporting cast: The first ‘Judwaa’ film had a stellar supporting cast – Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Satish Shah, Anupam Kher, Tiku Talsania, Dinesh Hingoo, Dalip Tahil, Mukesh Rishi – just to name a few. Some of these names added tremendous value with their comic timing and were instrumental in making the ‘Judwaa’ a success along with the lead cast. 20 years later, Anupam Kher continues to be a part of the series, along with Rajpal Yadav and Ali Asgar. How good will they be? Character actors no longer have much to do in mostly star-driven films these days, but they could make films like ‘Judwaa 2’ more entertaining.
• Kissing scenes: This concern has been raised by exhibitors from smaller centres. ‘Judwaa 2’ is being promoted as a family film, so why include so many kissing scenes in the trailer? It could seem like a minor issue and it could even add to the footfalls from what we call the ‘hoi polloi’, but it’s been pointed out by enough people to find a mention here.
• Marketing Campaign: So many films in recent times have been ruined by excessive and ineffective marketing. The stars end up over-exposing themselves and way too much content is shown through song and other promos. We hope the ‘Judwaa 2’ makers keep things low, because a film like this doesn’t really an extensive marketing campaign to increase awareness.
• Remake or New Script: A lot of people were unaware that ‘Judwaa 2’ was a proper remake of the first film. A title like ‘Judwaa Again’ would probably have been a better choice, but most people would still want to watch it.

IndicineFBO: From a business point of view, ‘Judwaa 2’ is expected to be one of the biggest films of the year. We start with Rs 16.5 crore as the first day prediction. The opening day (Sep 29) is a partial holiday in a few states for Durga Puja. It’s a big weekend, with a full holiday for Vijaydashmi (Dusshera) on Saturday and holiday for Gandhi Jayanti on Monday. So the first four days will all be either partial or full holidays, making it one of the best release periods of the year.

Note: This isn’t the final IndicineFBO prediction for ‘Judwaa 2’. It could increase or decrease depending on the response to the music, marketing campaign and size of release. Stay tuned for more updates.