AskIndicine: Live Now

Q. Has SRK’s streak of back to back hit films ended with FAN and do you think Salman can break the all time record set by Rajesh Khanna.

A. Yes, the winning streak has ended. Rajesh Khanna had 15 consecutive successful films, starting with Aradhana in 1969 to Apna Desh in 1972. Shah Rukh Khan’s success-streak started with Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (after the failure of Paheli) and ends with the theatrical failure of FAN. He had 12 films that were ‘Above Average’ or better.

Q. Why FAN IMDb rating is so high when it neither worked at single screens or multiplexes, domestic or overseas?

A. That’s because most of the votes are from fans. The rating was 9 on the day the film released, 8.3 earlier this week, it’s now 8.1. IMDb ratings gradually drop.  The ratings are no longer as reliable as they used to be, atleast not as soon as the film is released.

Q. Top 5 superstars in terms of fan following?

A. Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar.

Q. Will the focus of Priyanka and Deepika on their Hollywood careers affect their standing in the Hindi Film Industry?

A. Priyanka is in her mid-30s now and her move to Hollywood has come at the right age. Actresses in Hollywood have longer careers, while in our film industry the decline begins at the age of 31-32. Deepika hasn’t completely moved to Hollywood, she’s doing just one film, so it remains to be seen how it goes for her.

Q. What does the future beholds for SRK as a commercial star? His future line ups (apart from Raees may be) doesn’t look like out-n-out commercial films…so does the debacle of Dilwale and FAN going to affect his popularity among neutral audience?

A. His following among neutral audience has decreased in the last few years, but his fan-following remains strong. It’s exactly the reason why his films are taking a massive opening, but not sustaining even during the first weekend. Word-of-mouth of his last few films have been mixed to negative, so he needs a big success now. A film that not only opens well, but does well for 2-3 weeks on the strength of positive word-of-mouth.

Raees could be that film, it has commercial ingredients and the reports are positive too. All it needs is a good date, but the makers are struggling to find a suitable release date for the film. That in itself is a big worry, because when SRK announced a film before, the others would simply make way for him. But now, we have clashes and other producers holding press conferences to re-confirm their release date or releasing their first look posters 5 months prior, to slam the release date.

For the three Khans to sustain their dominance over the industry, they need solo releases during festive weekends (Eid, Diwali, Christmas), if they can’t get that, they might struggle to deliver those big grossers, which will weaken their standing. Aamir and Salman have been able to hold – Aamir is getting a solo Christmas release, Salman has already booked Eid and Diwali next year. Losing the clash to Bajirao Mastani has hurt SRK.

Having said all that, he’s still a top star with a huge die-hard following. who needs one good film to bounce back strongly. It’ll only be a problem if that ‘good film’ doesn’t come soon.

Q. What’s the progress of 3 Idiots’ sequel?

A. Here’s what Aaamir had said not too long ago “Raju Hirani has given me a hint about 3 Idiots sequel and I am giving you all a hint. The film will happen if and whenever he will write the script. Let’s keep our fingers crossed”

So it’s not happening atleast until 2020.

Question: Do you think SRK can make a strong comeback with Raees?

Alert: Housefull 3 Trailer has been launched. Those following QnA, can watch it here.

Q. Which is the most extraordinary achievement between these two: PK earning 275 crore from multiplexes or Bajrangi Bhaijaan earning 100 crore from single screens? which one of these is the toughest record to break in future and which movie can break these records?

A. The easier record to break would be at multiplexes, but there is an increase of around 150 plus screens every year and ticket prices are increasing too. As for the bigger achievement, but are big, but during times when single-screens aren’t even generating 10-15% of business for 90% films, 100 crore just from single-screens is HUGE.

Q. How are the inside reports of Sultan. Is Sultan a biopic or commercial potboiler?

A. Too early to talk about inside reports, the shooting is not yet complete. It’s a commercial film.

Q. Can Shahid Kapoor make a strong comeback with Udta Punjab and Rangoon? Udta Punjab already created a huge buzz and Rangoon also seem to be a good project or it is still difficult for him? 

A. Social media buzz should never be equated to the real buzz on ground level. Films like Udta Punjab only appeal to a very limited section of audience and unless the word-of-mouth is very good, Udta Punjab will struggle for a good total. Rangoon has a incredible star-cast, but none of them are major crowd-pullers. The costs are high too (pre-sold for 55 crore), so recovery won’t be easy.

Q. Captain America Civil War is already premiered on April 12 and the response is hugely positive and it also have Spiderman. So what do you think about the boxoffice performance of the movie in India?

A. It should open very well, but sorry, we are not very good at predicting the opening or lifetime business of Hollywood films in India. We’ll stick to Bollywood for now.

Q. What are the total collections and verdicts of Kapoor & Sons, Rocky Handsome and Love Games ?

A. Kapoor & Sons 73 crore (Super Hit), Rocky Handsome has finished at 25 crore (Flop) and Love Games is 5.5 crore (Flop). India business. Net box office collections.

Q. What are the prospects of Housefull 3 for box office success, as its seems that box office is very unpredictable and uncertain from time to time.

A. Box office is unpredictable, but good films that entertain the audience will always do well. It has a good release date, so it should be able to put up a strong total if the content is good. It’s currently trending at Rs 158 crore on IndicineLBO. The opening day prediction (IndicineFBO) will start tomorrow.

Q. Any news about Mohenjo Daro and its post production?

A. The post-production is currently in progress. The trailer will be out late May or early June. It’s a massive film, made on a humongous budget. If content clicks, it  has the potential to create history.

Q. We know the importance of multiplexes in today’s time but don’t you think a star is a real star if he doesn’t pull off his movies in single screens? I know 95% of the movies are not made for SS audience as the revenue is less because of low ticket price but atleast these movies can open good at single screens which is not happening with today’s young stars? Why so?

A. The younger lot of actors (Ranveer, Varun, Arjun, Sidharth) have just started out and it would take time for them to grow their fan-base at smaller centres. Films like Kapoor & Sons don’t help, but films like ABCD 2, Ek Villain, Bajirao Mastani, Tevar (even though it didn’t do well, it still worked at mass centres), Gunday.. all help in increasing fanbase with the single-screen audience.  Sidharth has Aashiqui 3 now, so that will increase his following at smaller centres. Varun has Dishoom and Arjun’s Half Girlfriend too will appeal to a wider section of audience. All of them have started well and have the acting talent too. Let’s give them time.

Q. Kapoor and Sons’ landing cost is 40 crore, but it’s a HIT at 45 crore, Azhar landing cost is 38cr, but it needs 55 crore to be a HIT? Why this discrimination?

A. Each films has different economics and recovery depends on different factors. Kapoor & Sons recovered investment from satellite and music rights. Azhar’s India theatrical rights has been sold for Rs 23 crore, so it needs around 45-46 crore just to recover costs. If domestic distributor loses money, a film can’t be a hit.

Q. After the poster release of Baar Baar Dekho, Is it confirmed that Raees and Sultan will clash on Eid or any new release date for any of the two movies?

A. Raees makers are still in search of a new date, if not they would’ve reconfirmed Eid release. The problem with Eid is the failure of FAN. If Fan had done well, SRK could have got any date. But with that film not crossing 100, he’s on the back foot. Raees most certainly won’t get a single-screen release if they stick to Eid, this will affect the collections of the film. Either way, it’s suicidal to clash against Salman during Eid, unless Raees is super-strong content-wise. Even then it would be a risk that SRK can’t afford to take after Dilwale and FAN.

If Raees underperforms because of the clash, then his film with Aanand L Rai will be in trouble, because that film is being made on a big budget.

Q. Can Sonam win Filmfare or National Awards for Neerja. If not who can give her competition?

A. Too early to talk about awards. 8 more months in the year.

Q. How much do u think would b ideal for Housefull 3 to open with? 23-24 cr or a bit more? Can it touch 200 if it finds acceptance from both classes and masses?

A. Welcome Back opened at 15 crore on opening day, so you expect Housefull 3 (because of Akshay’s presence and more established franchise) to open at atleast 25-30% higher than Welcome Back. So opening should be around the 20 crore mark. As for 200 crore, it has a chance if the film is liked universally like Housefull 2. The period of release that the markers have chosen (Post IPL), has given the industry several blockbusters.

Q. Is Akshaye Khanna making a return in Dhishoom?

A. Yes, Akshaye Khanna is making a comeback with Dishoom. He’ll be part of the promotional campaign too, after the trailer launch.

Q. While critics are giving some of the best reviews for fan but the box office business shows otherwise. Don’t you think if FAN would have some songs and some commercial value attached to it, then it would have performed better. What has gone wrong in Fan? Any thoughts?

A. The audience, barring Shah Rukh Khan fans, have not liked the film. It would be wrong to call FAN an off-beat or non-commercial film, when it had thrill elements, emotions and action. It was a commercial entertainer without songs. It most certainly wasn’t a film like Swades, which had songs, but lacked entertainment value.

Here’s what we think went wrong: Poor marketing campaign arguably the worst for a biggie in a long time, not including the Jabra song when it was promoted so heavily and the content didn’t find appreciation either.

Q. Akshay Kumar or Ajay Devgn? Who’s a bigger star?

A. Akshay Kumar.

Q. There is news that FAN’s satellite rights has been sold at 55 crores? Is this is a technique to fool the audience into believing that Fan isn’t a flop?

A. The best thing to do is to respect the audience verdict, accept that a film has failed and move on to the next. Those figures are completely baseless. The satellite market is down and there is no way a film like FAN can get 55 crore from satellite. The general audience and even the mainstream media look at the domestic box office collections of films and compare it to others, so the perception won’t change by quoting a unrealistically high satellite figure.

Q. Is it true that Hrithik Roshan has requested Akshay Kumar to push the release date of Rustom?

A. No.

Q. Can we rate Sonam as a bigger risk taker than Deepika as most of Sonam’s movies had only Sonam as the lead role while Deepika has always had bigger stars to support her in all her hits?

A. Actresses or even actors who fail in a commercial setting, are much more likely to take risks than top actors or actresses. Sonam’s career as a conventional heroine, did not work. She wasn’t liked even in a big film like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. So she opted to do different kind of cinema and it has worked well so far for her. For someone like Deepika who consistently gets offers to work with top superstars, she doesn’t need to take too many risks – even though she has with films like Finding Fanny and to a certain extent Cocktail.

Q. Fan opened to rave reviews but did not perform well at the box-office, then why all critics started bashing the film. Even a film like Andaaz Apna Apna or Swades didn’t do well but later acquired cult status?

A. 99% of films that fail at the box office don’t gain cult status and even if they do it would take years. Andaz Apna Apna released more than 2 decades ago, so it’s pointless to compare. If it released today, it would have been an all-time-blockbuster. Swades was off-beat and completely lacked entertainment value. The audience for such films is very limited. Can’t compare both to FAN.

Q. How many movies of Salman have crossed 200 crore worldwide?

A. 7 movies. Dabangg, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Dabangg 2, Kick, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

Q. Arrange acting wise best performance: Aamir (PK), SRK (Fan), Salman (Bajrangi Bhaijaan), Akshay (Airlift), Ajay (Drishyam)

A. Aamir and SRK, can’t pick between the two. Both stellar. Followed by Akshay, Ajay, Salman.

Q. Will the underperformance of FAN discourage filmmakers in the future to make ‘niche’ films with limited appeal to the masses? Do note that I’m not referring to films with content. I’m specifically referring to ‘niche’ films. We have seen that content-oriented films have worked this year like Airlift, Kapoor and Sons. But these cannot be called niche in nature as they did have some commercial aspects to attract the masses such as hit songs like Soch Na Sake, Dil cheez tujhe dedi, Chull and Bolna.

A. It’s strange why FAN is being made into a completely off-beat niche film after its release. FAN had plenty of commercial elements too, like action and emotion. Lack of songs doesn’t make a film ‘niche’ or limited appeal film. Swades had very limited appeal, but it did have songs. Even Paheli was also less commercial as compared to FAN.

Q. Seeing Sanjay Dutt’s body language and personality, do you think that Ranbir Kapoor is a misfit in the biopic?

A. Let’s see. Ranbir Kapoor is a terrific actor and Rajkumar Hirani is the best director in the industry. His look and body language will look convincing on screen, Hirani’s attention to detail is outstanding. They can’t go wrong.

That’s the end of today’s QnA. We answered 30 questions from our readers. Thank you for joining us.