AskIndicine: Live Now

The live ‘QnA’ session begins at 4PM today, post your questions in the comments section below:

Q. How was 2.0 posters and 3D teaser? Can it open huge like 20+ crore in Hindi?

A. The response is mixed because the teaser was shown in 3D and many in the audience did not have 3D glasses, even those watching the event live on Youtube were disappointed. As for the opening, it’s the biggest and most expensive film of 2017. Diwali falls on Thursday next year and the big holiday is on Friday. Perfect time to release the film. The combined collections from all versions could well be nearly two times more than the highest single-day of all time. Even a 70-75 crore total on the first day is a possibility, because ticket prices will be insanely high and the hype will be bigger than ‘Kabali’. Unlike ‘Kabali’, ‘2.0’ has Akshay Kumar to add star value in the North Indian markets. If ‘Golmaal 4’ opts for a different date, then records across the country will be decimated by a distance.

Films in the last few years haven’t really taken advantage of the Diwali period in the last few years, next year will be huge if films like ‘Robot 2.0’ and ‘Golmaal 4’ release. It’s these kind of films that the audience want to watch during Diwali.

Q. Who has the best line up of films for 2017?

A. Almost all actors have a good and varied line-up. Salman Khan obviously has two of the biggest films of 2017 in Tubelight and Tiger Zinda Hai, he takes the Top 2 festive weekends too. He should dominate and maintain his lead in the industry, as his films will appeal to every section of the audience.

Our next pick is Akshay Kumar. Huge line up. Jolly LLB 2, Toilet Ek Prem Katha, Crack and Robot 2.0.

Shah Rukh Khan has one massy film (Raees) and the other (Imtiaz Ali directorial) which should hold wider appeal. But Shah Rukh doesn’t have good release dates. Among the younger actors, Varun Dhawan and Arjun Kapoor have good films. Varun has Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Judwaa 2, both potential 100 crore grossers. Arjun has Half Girlfriend (Chetan Bhagat – Mohit Suri) and Mukarakan (Anees Bazmee).

Ajay has two big films too, Baadshaho and Golmaal 4. Rest of the actors have one film each, which cannot really be called a ‘line-up’. Our pick in order of preference (from a box office point of view) – Salman, Akshay, Shah Rukh, Varun, Ajay, Arjun.

Q. Which kind of movies Hrithik should do to get the old form. we know he is extremely talented but when he try to experiment his movie fails or under performs like Lakshya, Guzarish and Mohenjo Daro.

A. Experiments can go wrong, but films like Lakshya and Guzaarish will never be big earners at the box office. Lakshya opened at 100% at the box office, which in itself was a major achievement, but it didn’t sustain. It has found cult status now, as many find the film to be very inspiring. So it all comes down to the choice of films and knowing the vision of the director, because a film like ‘Mohenjo Daro’ was probably signed because of the director and the end result was very poor when it comes to scale and setting. The perception that he is no longer in form is normal when a film has just failed at the box office. If ‘Kaabil’ does well, all will be well again.

Q. What about Hrithik – Kabir Khan project which was announced on Nov 2015 to be produced by Sajid N ? Is it happening after Tubelight or Hrithik has opted out of it ?

A. We haven’t heard about this in a long time now. Doesn’t seem to be happening.

Q. Any chance of Raees vs Kaabil to be averted now? Or is it a deadlock now?

A. The clash is on. Both films are coming on 26th January.

Q. Rank these actors as star power SRK, AAMIR And Salman?

A. Salman, SRK, Aamir. In terms of initial pull, irrespective of content. Domestic box office.

Q. What is the word-of-mouth for Dear Zindagi?

A. It’s positive at major cities, average elsewhere. Although it’s certainly not overwhelmingly positive anywhere.

Q. What can be the combined total of Raees and Kaabil in the best case? Can Airlift’s record be challenged if both of turn out to be very good films?

A. For one film to collect more than ‘Airlift’, the other film has to be rejected. Or one film has to be extraordinary and the other has to be average. If both films get equal response, it’ll be difficult for either to beat ‘Airlift’. It’s not that big a weekend. ‘Kaabil’ has costs in its favour, so the break-even point is at 85-90 crore. ‘Raees’ due to the delay, has higher costs, it needs to collect more and expectations are always higher from someone like SRK too.

Q. Your take on Ashutosh Gowariker as a director? Is he that bad director to deliver 3 disaster in a row?

A. We would put him in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s league. Good director when in form, but chances of going wrong and delivering a disaster is high too.  All the profits that they make in 2-3 films, can be lost with one debacle. But to Bhansali’s credit, he’s been able to give scale to his vision. Ashutosh has failed in that department.

Q. SRK’s ranking in worldwide popularity in actors of whole world?

A. SRK is by far the most widely recognised Indian actor in the world.

Q. What is your take on Alia Bhatt being considered “Too good too soon”?

A. To her credit, she is one of the few female actors in the industry who can actually act. She was tremendous in roles that require acting histrionics (Highway, Udta Punjab) and can do the usual glam-roles too. We do not have too many female stars in the industry, so when someone like an Alia comes and does the kind of films she’s been doing, she’ll obviously walk away with a lot of praise and accolades.

Q. Do you think there is any chance of dear zindagi to collect more than 100cr as it has collected 20cr in 2days and audiences has given thumbs up to this movie….It has also 2 weeks to earn….

A. Highly unlikely, but it can surprise if it holds well Monday onwards. There is ‘Kahaani 2’ this week and if that film is anywhere close to as good as the first film, it won’t be easy for Dear Zindagi to collect 2nd week onwards.

Q. First ADHM, then 2.0 and now Meri Pyari Bindu. Why are everyone being so harsh towards Ajay Devgn?

A. No one wants to unnecessarily announce a film on a day which is already occupied by another film. But there are only 52 weeks in a year and most weeks have already been taken. Recently, a big name in the industry came to us asking for a good release date for his film in May – June period next year, but that period is packed. So even if actors have a film ready for release 8-9 months from now, they do not have good dates, which makes clashes inevitable. Meri Pyaari Bindu is a small film, it won’t affect Ajay’s Baadshaho.

Q. World has only seen 10% from SRK; he is much more talented. In future Bollywood will try & extract remaining portion from him. Personally, I also do feel so – what is Indicine opinion about SRK?

A. 10% etc are vague figures for someone who has been in the industry for 25 years. But SRK has wasted his talent in the last few years by doing films that fall in the category of ‘silly’. As an actor he has much more to offer, even in a film like ‘Dear Zindagi’ he was fabulous. ‘Raees’, depending on Excel (it’s a banner that cannot be trusted to do mass films) and Dholakia, could be a film where his performance will carry the film. Apart from that, the Aanand L Rai film will give him a lot of scope to perform.

Q. What are your predictions for Deepika’s Hollywood debut? How much do you think it could make in India?

A. Her presence will add value to the film, but we cannot make predictions for Hollywood films. It’s very unpredictable. If it opens above the 6-7 crore mark, then the credit could probably be given to Deepika. It has helped the film be in news for sure.

Q. Do you think the makers of Raabta chosen the right date?

A. Not the best of dates – Feb 10 was a better date as it’s a romantic film as the Valentine’s Day on Tuesday would have helped the film. Now it’s coming during Ramzan period, a week after Toilet and two weeks before Tubelight. It’ll have to be a good film to make the audience spend 3 times in the same month, else they would save up for Tubelight.

Q. Rank them on d basis of d better directing capability among these – Kabir Khan, SLB, Anand L Rai, Imitiaz Ali, Neeraj Pandey.Give ur reasons too.

A. Kabir Khan and Anand L Rai are the Top 2, because they do universally appealing family films. Followed by Neeraj Pandey and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Imtiaz Ali’s best work was Socha Na Tha (his debut) and Jab We Met, after that it’s been downhill. Tamasha and Rockstar were acclaimed film, but only a small section of the audience watched it.

Q. With only 7 successes this year out of so many releases… what is going wrong with Bollywood ?

A. It’s been a tough year because there seems to be a big disconnect between what the audience wants to watch and what our filmmakers are giving them. Sultan apart, there hasn’t been a film that appeals to the audience that comes out for films like ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’. The second film that has found audience at smaller centres was ‘The Jungle Book’, which did nearly 190 crore. When Tamil and Telugu film industries are doing films like ‘2.0’ and ‘Baahubali’, we are busy with 5-city urban films.

Q. How is the buzz & hype for Raees currently?

A. Nothing on the ground right now. It’ll start only after the trailer is released. Social media and fans aside, most people (general audience) don’t even remember the film now, it’s been a long time since the teaser came out.

Q. Do you think Kaabil will get enough screens as compare to Raees?

A. Yes, Rakesh Roshan will ensure the film gets a good release.

Q. If you had the power to release THE RING to release whenever you want to, which best possible date will you select, along with reason?

A. All major dates in 2016 are gone, so it’ll be about taking someone on and risking another clash.. or pushing the film to 2017. Independence Day release is a possibility, because the audience for Neeraj Pandey films is restricted to big cities. Diwali is no longer an option. Normal weekend may not give SRK a big 200 plus grosser, so they’ll have to work something out because the costs will be on the higher side

Q. You havent updated your L.B.O for kaabil and Raees. Why ? Please update that.

A. We’ll update it soon. Predictions for the first 6 months of 2017 will be added.

Q. How much Demonetisation affected the collections and verdict of the recent released movies?

A. Rock On 2 was the most affected film, but it wouldn’t have made much difference because there was no interest to watch the film. If there was interest, there were many ways to watch the film.. since the audience was urban, almost all of them have credit / debit cards. Force 2 was affected at smaller centres, impact was probably around 20% on Day 1 and 10-15% overall.

Q. You said Force 1 was a flop and they made a sequel Force 2.. now you are saying Force 2 is a flop but they are having a success bash and John has said he will be making Force 3 soon.. What’s going on?

A. Force 1 and Force 2 have both gone the same way at the box office. The trend in the first weekend was better for Force 2, but both films were poor during the weekdays. These success parties are meaningless. Deepika Padukone celebrated the success of ‘Tamasha’, but two weeks later she was talking about the film’s failure in an interview (Read). Force 2 has probably recovered costs for the producers from various rights and rebates, but if the net collections (half of which the distributors get) are not even close to the budget of a film, it’s a theatrical failure.

Q. The overseas figures of ADHM and Shivaay show that Shivaay was a total washout. Did Shivaay really ad a chance in Overseas or i was just over hyped?

A. We’ll let the numbers do the talking – ADHM has crossed the 85 crore mark overseas, 2nd highest overseas grosser this year after Sultan. Shivaay has wrapped under 10 crore.

Q. What can be the possible reason behind releasing Raees trailer on 7th December and not along with Dear Zindagi ?

A. They probably wanted the focus to be on ‘Dear Zindagi’ before moving on to ‘Raees’.  We had revealed in QnA session two weeks ago that the trailer would be out with Befikre. Releasing with Dangal would be too late. The decision is good. 6-7 weeks before release is a good time to release trailer of a film like ‘Raees’.

Q. With Dear Zindagi performing very well and having a great performance by Alia, who do you think can be termed as the best actress of the year : Anushka Sharma (ADHM), Alia Bhatt (DZ, Udta Punjab), Tapsee Pannu (Pink), Sonam Kapoor (Neerja) or any other actress ?

A. Alia Bhatt for Udta Punjab is the top contender to win awards this year, we think.

Q. Varun Dhawan’s films are mostly mass oriented. What kind of multiplex following does he have?

A. He’s had a good mix of releases, both mass friendly and movies that worked with the urban multiplex audience. Student Of The Year, Humpty Sharma Kil Dulhania, Badlapur worked mainly in big cities, ABCD 2 and Main Tera Hero clicked with the masses. He does have a good following amongst city audience, the kids love him too. But long way to go as far as the masses and family audience are concerned. Like someone in the trade said, for an actor to be the next Salman or Shah Rukh Khan.. the younger stars need to do films for the family audience and also action-oriented entertainers.

On that note, we end today’s QnA session. Do join us again next week. Thank you.