AskIndicine: Live Now

A few questions from last week, along with a few questions from this week will be answered. Join us at 4PM Indian Standard Time.

Post your questions in the comments section below:

Q. Can Dangal touch 400 crore mark?

A. All versions combined could cross the 400 crore mark, it will depend on how the film performs in the 4th weekend. If ‘Ok Jaanu’ and Deepika’s ‘xXx’ does well, Dangal will find it tough, but if those two films fail, Dangal will get two more weeks to collect before ‘Raees’ and ‘Kaabil’.

Q. Is there any chance for Kaabil to open better than Raees at box office?

A. Box office is unpredictable, but it will be very surprising if Kaabil manages to get anywhere close to Raees. Buzz is clearly in favour of Raees and it should manage take a much better opening than Kaabil.

Q. Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Dangal, which is a better movie according to you and whom will you pick to watch ?

A. Bajrangi Bhaijaan worked both at single-screens and multiplexes, Dangal comparatively has performed better at multiplexes and was way poorer at single-screens.

To pick the better film, it would be Dangal.

Q. Your predication and expectation from Tiger Zinda Hai? Can it break the record of Dangal? And your predication for Highest Grosser of 2017?

A. Too early to make predictions. Only content can make a film the highest grosser of all time, so it would depend on what sort of response Tiger Zinda Hai gets. Even Dangal after its release was difficult to predict, because it’s almost impossible to analyse or predict whether a film can get repeat-viewers or whether the family audience will come out in big numbers. These two factors are very important for business to go to the next level. All about word-of-mouth, if people begin strongly recommending a film to others, then anything is possible. Even 450 crore is a possibility if business at both multiplexes and single-screens peak. It’s about a fantastic film finding that balance. At the moment, we think Tubelight has a better chance than Tiger Zinda Hai.

As for the highest grosser, we think ‘Baahubali 2’ will be the highest grosser in the first half before Eid. After that it should be one of the two Salman Khan films, he has two of the biggest festive weekends too. The pressure to delivery will be very high, because the minimum expectation from both films will be 300 plus.

Q. Dangal deserves this success because we know the efforts which Amir & the whole cast have put throughout this tenure of almost 2 years. There is crazy fan following for Salman & SRK across the world also there are miscellaneous fans of other actors. Amir Khan can pull EVERYONE to his cinema – This is now confirmed. What I feel is Dhoom 2, PK, HNY, PRDP, Dilwale, Sultan etc do not actually deserve what it has received; this could happen only because of these giants. Indicine view please!

A. Agree to what you said, what works for Aamir Khan is the trust that his audience have in his films. He’s worked very hard for it too, the credibility has been built over a long period of time. More than 20 years now. Right from his ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander’ and ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ days, Aamir has kept the film above himself. It’s not about him getting the best scenes or best role, of course his films require him to have a large share of screen-time.. but whether it is Rang De Basanti or Dangal, the climax wasn’t on Aamir’s character, it belonged to someone else.. yet he has signed films that most other superstars would reject. It takes guts and tremendous amount of conviction to do a film like Dangal and see it through to nearly 400 crore at the box office.

Aamir is a legend, a different breed, a cut above the rest when it comes to quality of films and knowing the pulse of the audience.

Q. Indicine, you guys are fabulous.I love to read articles and QnA by you.What will be final approx footfalls of Dangal according to you?Which film is more acclaimed universally, BB or Dangal?

A. Thank you. Around 3.5 crore footfalls, tax exemption in several states has helped increase footfalls. Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the more universal blockbuster. It was a certain ‘Highest Grosser of All Time’ if it had a more favourable release period with open week and without ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Drishyam’ competing.

Q. Your comment on consistency of Aamir he has had just one flop in this century and that too in January 2000 after that he had just two below average one Mangal Pandey which broke opening records and one art film Dhobi Ghat which had Aamir in supporting role rest all successful and mostly big hits along with classics.

A. We’ve already spoken a lot about Aamir. Not much to add except that we may never have someone like Aamir Khan again. His films will be watched, loved and hailed even 50 years from now, long after all the box office records are forgotten. Cinematically immortalised.

Q. Is Salman Khan doing Remo D’Souzas dance film? Is it releasing Eid 2018?

A. Yes, Salman has spoken about the film. But he has also spoken about a lot of films in the past, which never happened. Let’s wait for the official announcement. From what we know, the final script isn’t ready yet and Salman hasn’t officially signed the film. If it happens, the target will be Eid 2018, no one will even think of taking it before making sure that Salman cannot have a film ready.

Q. Why did Deepika Padukone chose to do a B-grade Hollywood film like xxx??n the result is zero buzz and she wasted 1 year for it!!do you think if the film doesnt work it will affect her career?

A. Poor decision. It may not do any good to her and she’s wasted more than 2 years of her peak in our film industry. The difference between Priyanka and Deepika is, Priyanka moved abroad after her peak, which is the best time because older actresses get better roles in International Cinema as compared to the Hindi Film Industry. Deepika moved during her peak and if the pre-buzz is anything to go by, it looks like a wasted attempt.

Q. My question is since the Demonetisation. What’s the amount of online tickets sold for Dangal ? Any estimates?

A. The online ticket sales have increased and BookMyShow broke their own records during Dangal’s peak. We’d like to add here that it’s about time BookMyShow reduces the ‘convenience fee’ on tickets. When most non-movie online shopping sites have free-shipping and heavy discounts, BookMyShow being by far the most popular movie ticket booking website is taking advantage of the monopoly. PayTM is competing now and giving cashback and waiving off convenience fee, it should make BMS reduce the amount it charges.

Q. How do you rate the promos of Raees and Kaabil so far? And what’s the response of trade and audience towards the promos?

A. Raees is leading by a distance at the moment, Kaabil isn’t tracking as well as it should.

Q. In your article, you have claimed the buzz for Raees is 8/10 and Dangal 10/10 . But Raees is everywhere on the internet and on tv. Please clarify. Say with the same buzz and songs Raees had released on Christmas without competition, how much would it collect?

A. Creating awareness about a film on the Internet / TV does not necessary convert into ticket sales. A bigger marketing budget can always create a splash on TV, which to be honest, an SRK film doesn’t even need. His presence is enough to get an initial. What his films do need though, is good content. The neutral audience aren’t coming to theatres to watch the film, which is clear from the post-weekend collections and poor trend of his last few films. Good, entertaining film providing wholesome entertainment is what an SRK film need. SRK is the king of romance, sure, but are his romantic films working as well as it used to about 5 – 15 years ago? Is it generating the kind of interest it used to? A socially relevant film, that captures the essence of own country.. something that’s working today, might help him regain the trust of the movie-going audience and get them back to theatres in big numbers. This is just our opinion, a legend like SRK has nothing left to prove or achieve. He’s already done it all.

Q. If you @indicine were a new comer in Bollywood and given a chance to choose a role between Salman Khan movies and Aamir khan movies, which kind of movies you would choose and on what rate do u think the movies would be hit? I am sure it wouldn’t be ATBB since u will be a new comer but do u think u would make hits when choosing Salman/ Aamir movies?? Please choose the movies after 2010..and if you don’t mind tell me which movies u think would be hit …and why u will not be choosing the movies?

A. Would be doing the kind of films Varun Dhawan is doing. You don’t become an Aamir or Salman overnight. It takes time (decades), hard-work, experience and a huge following. On a lighter note, we love our job of analysing box office of films and doing our FBO and LBO. It’s a lot easier and we get bashed very often too. Get predictions right, no one cares. Get a few wrong, people love it.

Q. Hi indicine i’m your regular reader from last two years. Thanks for your wonderful work. My question is can you pick 5 hollywood movies which could surprise in 2017? Please answer.

A. The action / superhero genre and popular franchise films will continue to work. Others don’t really manage to find an audience. Fast and Furious 8 and Spiderman Home Coming should be the biggest Hollywood films this year.

Q. What is the current buzz of Padmavati? Is it considered among the potential big grosser’s of 2017?

A. It’s a big film, on paper (Script level) it’s fantastic. But the costs will be high and recovering investment is not going to easy unless it turns out to be an extraordinary experience.

Q. What is your expectations from Jolly LLB2 at multiplex and single screen separately as a song and promo has been already released.

A. We have immensely high expectations from Akshay in 2017. His fan-following is growing, people are liking his choices, he’s making films that are looking interesting. It could potentially hurt his core fanbase at smaller centres, because his films are getting more multiplex friendly – but it’s a risk that’s worth taking if he can make films that appeal to the wider section of multiplex audience (not just restricted to metros). Big money is coming from these centres and if some of these films click, he could get into the 140-150 crore territory. If he gets there this year, or even manages to take Jolly, Toilet and Padman into the 120 crore+ range, it’ll be huge for him, considering the number of films that he does.

Q. Your never answer my question so please answer it this time. As we have already seen the response Raees got from trailer and songs compare to Kaabil, so can the opening of Raees be huge compare to kaabil’s? And is Kaabil still releasing in 25th evening ?

A. For the last time, Kaabil is getting a normal morning release on 25th. And to repeat what we’ve already said, we’d be very surprised if Raees does not take a much bigger opening than Kaabil.

Some quick answers now:

Q. I think Riteish Deshmukh has potential to become a super star. But directors do not offer him a good movie. He has shown his potential in ek villain. What’s your thoughts?

A. No chance. He’s tried, but failed.

Q. What’s the chance of Salman Khan and Karan Johars’ movie starring Akshay Kumar releasing in Christmas 2018 ?

A. They haven’t decided on a date yet. They won’t clash with SRK.

Q. After Salman which actor commands the second biggest fan following and super stardom today?

A. SRK.

Q. Robot 2 or Baahubali 2, Your early bet in terms of Box Office Collection ?

A. Robot 2.

Q. How’s the buzz of RAEES?

A. Very good.

Q. Highest Grossing Movie of Akshay, Salman and Shahrukh in 2017 ? Do not consider Robot 2 as Akshay Kumar’s film because it will surely gross more than other bollywood actors movie.

A. Akshay it’s really difficult to pick, Salman Tiger Zinda Hai (Tubelight riskier on paper, but if it clicks can be much bigger), SRK The Ring / Rehnuma.

Q. Why do you underestimate SRK so much? He was ruling since last 2 decades. FAN was his first flop in 10 years. Just because of one flop film you have started underestimating him a lot. Why?

A. Not under-estimating, but given the standards that he has set during the first 20 years of his career, the expectation of him matching the top stars in the industry will always be there.  His films have under-performed after Chennai Express and the gap is widening. In QnA, we can only talk about the current scenario or current standing of actors.

Q. Mr Indicine now atleast accept ur defeat , u have been proved wrong time & again by aamir khan & yet u want to predict secret superstar , i mean its ridiculous to say the least!!!

A. We don’t make predictions to win or lose, we cannot predict a trend like Dangal. How can we know how many people are going to visit the theatre and purchase tickets? How can we predict a 3 Idiots doing a 200 crore, when the previous highest grosser is only 115. No one thought Jungle Book would do nearly 200. It cannot be predicted even by the best of trade analysts. Box office will always surprise and that’s what makes it exciting.

Q. Why dont you consider Dear zindagi not as shahrukh khan starrer movie in your top actor rating system even though he has a longer role than aamir khan had in taare zameen par?

A. Even the audience knew Dear Zindagi was not a Shah Rukh Khan film. Otherwise it wouldn’t open at 8 crore. Taare Zameen Par was different, it was almost entirely sold on Aamir’s name.

Q. How will u rate Remo as a director?What u want to say about Salman choosing him for his next?

A. Don’t rate him too highly, but he’s made successful films.

Q. Any update about the new release date of Crack?

A. Pushed to 2018.

Q. Can hindi version of Robot 2 open above 30 cr if it gets the right buzz?

A. Difficult.

Q. I don’t know how many times I have to try to reach you but i will keep trying, big fan of your site. Love it so much. I have a question for a long time. Why Bollywood movies do not get extended version on dvds like Hollywood does?

A. No idea about this, will try to find out. Could be because not many people buy DVD’s anymore. A few films have had DVD extras.

Q. Will the failure of Befikre make an impact on the trade’s faith over Ranveer Singh. Since he hasn’t been able to give a single hit after his debut without the Bhansali-Deepika combo.

A. Trade doesn’t really trust the newer generation of actors, it’ll take time. They are new in the industry. But the trade sure has lost trust and faith in Aditya Chopra films. He’s letdown a huge section of the audience who have grown watching his films.

Q. Indicine ,i would like to ask one thing that whenever I visit Boxofficeindia i always see some discrepancy in box office collections of many films whether its Pk, sultan or Bajrangi Bhaijaan with respect to your site. According to my perception this is happening due to Net collection and Gross collection. Could you please help in clearing my perception?

A. They are independent trackers, we follow producer figures here. People need to understand that the released collections are never accurate, almost everything is an estimate. When people talk about inflation or manipulation of collections, it’s usually a comparison between two sources. But what if both inflate? Will people know? There’s a big film that has done it and at that level even 5-10% makes a massive difference. Even under-reporting is done sometimes to make inflation look too high (Krrish 3 for example). We do not usually want to talk about such things, because as soon as we do, we are labelled as biased.

Q. Your opinion on Late Mr. Om puri’s acting skills & his contribution to Indian cinema @Indicine.

A. Legend. He made an impact even in the smallest of roles, like the one in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Q. Thank you for being so bold and straight forward. Hardly any unbiased media left . Hardly few admire this . I enjoy reading everything on indicine. Thanks once again

A. Thanks a lot.

Q. Why Ajay Devgn remove letter ‘a’ from Devgn? In 90’s decade ‘a’ has his name… Pls rply… I have asked many questions bt didn’t rply so this time pls rply…. Thnx Indicine

A. From the internet:

“Though his friends and family have been asking Ajay to change the way he spells his name to “make it more balanced” and therefore attract success, he stayed away from the temptation. That was until his mom asked him to make the change for health reasons. Last year, after U Me Aur Hum released, Ajay had a severe back and neck sprain (he was laid up for over a month.) Later, he had some health problems and a couple of accidents on the sets.” His worried mom contacted an astrologer, who suggested the name change. Mrs. Devgan then urged Ajay to make the alteration, as she was very worried for him, adding that the change would add to his general well-being and happiness too. Ajay argued but finally gave in.” The source says, “This is a huge step for Ajay as he has never been too much into numerology and astrology though he believes in vastu shastra and stones. His friends were shocked too when they learned that he’d changed the way he spells his name. He has already feeling the positive effects of the change as he has been getting mind-blowing reactions for the All The Best promo”

Q. Could u plz tell me what goes in actors mind when he chooses the script. Or how does any chose a script. Because apart from top few all movies fail at the box office.

A. Every actor has a different approach. No one sets out to make a bad film, but the whole process of filmmaking is complicated. A lot can go wrong. Small mistakes can make a big difference. A fantastic film is about getting a lot of those small things right, which the best of directors do.

Q. Aamir Khan has delivered first ever 3 BACK TO BACK “highest-grossing film of all time” (Dhoom 3- 2013, PK-2014, and Dangal-2016). Do you think that his contemporaries will break his record of 3 back to back all time highest grossers?

A. No, it’ll remain with him. Even delivering one highest grosser of all time is a big deal.

Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed today’s QnA. More than 35 questions were answered.

Advertisements

296 Comments

  • Now a days, u r not up-to-date. Rangoon trailer posted lately & running shaadi.com trailer is not updated yet. Its posters also. And tiger zinda hai shooting started & salman’s one of upcoming movie is based on dance & he will be father of 13 year old child. These r not updated. Actually what happened to u.
    By an indicine addict.???

  • If Salman Khan delivers two 300 crore grossers next year than don’t you think it will become a benchmark in Indian cinema and Salman will be the undisputed No.1 Superstar of Bollywood of all time.

  • How is the buzz of Raees?? How have the two songs been received?? Any info about the third song.. Thank you

  • Can tubelight become first film to cross 400 cr mark? Will it challange dangal and become ATHG? Please answer me. Thanks.

  • Can Emraan Hashmi cross 100 crores? Which is his career’s highest and second highest grossing movie ?
    #True Salman Fans

  • Arrange these actors according to star power in 80s and 90s- sunny deol,anil kapoor,govinda,mithun chakravorty,rishi kapoor,sanjay dutt,jacky shrof etc.

  • Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Dangal, which is a better movie according to you and whom wil you pick to watch ?
    #True Salman Fans

  • Can Aamir Naata Tingu Khan cross 50 crores without Raju Papa and Great brands ?
    #True Salman Fans

  • @hrithik ( original ) : You are a chameleon. I am a real Salman Fan !!!!!!
    #True Salman Fans

  • ur predication and expection from tiger zinda h..and it can broke the record of dangal ? And ur predication for highrt grosser of 2017 ?

  • Dangal deserves this success because we know the efforts which Amir & the whole cast have put throughout this tenure of almost 2 years. There is crazy fan following for Salman & SRK across the world also there are miscellaneous fans of other actors. Amir Khan can pull EVERYONE to his cinema – This is now confirmed. What I feel is Dhoom 2, PK, HNY, PRDP, Dilwale, Sultan etc do not actually deserve what it has received; this could happen only because of these giants. Indicine view please!

  • Dangal is such a bad movie that my friends head was painting heavily when they watched it !!
    #True Salman Fans

  • Sultan has 3.25 crore footfalls so it’s box office collections should be 325+ crores but the figures given our by greedy and jealous YRF is just only 301 crores !!! Do you have any valid reason to support YRF ? If not then everyone have to agree that Sultan is an ATHG film but jealous YRF don’t want to see Salman in top spot as their favourite coward actor SRGay is yet to touch 250 crores? ??? You have to answer this to prove naata khan’s fan about Salman’s megastardom !!!
    #True Salman Fans

  • Indicine,you guys are fabulous.I love to read articles and QnA by you.What will be final approx footfalls of Dangal according to you?Which film is more acclaimed universally, BB or Dangal?

  • Your comment on consistency of Aamir he has had just one flop in this century and that too in january 2000 after that he had just two below average one mangal pandey which broke opening records and one art film dhobi ghat which had Aamir in supporting role rest all successful and mostly big hits along with classics

  • On a serios note.. Please answer this question.. Is raees and kabil going to suffer because of excellent run of dangal? Family audiance have already spent on dangal ao they might not come for a movie with in 1 month and if that happend which movie will suffer more?

  • As per Trade and distributors,,. Which one they have choose on 25th Jan??
    Raees or Kaabil??

    Any inside reports

  • If both Raees and Kaabil turn out to be pretty well made films and absolutely loves by thier target audience…..then what should be the combined total and in which ration will it split??

Leave a Comment