Shah Rukh Khan returns to the silver screen for the second time this year with Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. The hype and euphoria that we usually associate with a Shah Rukh Khan film, which was at its peak with ‘Raees’ earlier this year, seems to be missing this time around.
The response to the advance booking is decent at main cities, but poor elsewhere (by SRK standards). While ‘Bahubali 2: The Conclusion’ is in a different league altogether, ‘Raees’ takes the second spot, followed by ‘Tubelight’. But even compared to a film like ‘Tubelight’, the advance of ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ (as of 6PM on Thursday) is much lower barring a couple of cities.
Factors in favour of Jab Harry Met Sejal:
- Shah Rukh Khan: He remains one of the biggest crowd pullers in the industry, but his stardom will be tested with a film like ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. His fanbase extends to every nook and corner of the country, but urban rom-coms like ‘JHMS’ will restrict his pull at tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Yet, SRK will remain the single biggest reason why the audience would want to watch the film this weekend.
- Anushka Sharma: One of the most popular actresses in the industry today, Anushka’s presence will add tremendous value to ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’. Her presence in the promos has found appreciation too.
- Music: The songs have worked, there’s no outright chartbuster but songs have grown on the audience.
Factors against Jab Harry Met Sejal:
- Promos: When we did the theatre survey towards the end of June, the promos of ‘JHMS’ had received a poor response. The trailer was better received, but it came too late. It’s crucial for films to get their main-trailer right and then make sure it reaches the target audience by screening it in theatres. That’s probably the best and most effective form of promotion. Unfortunately, footfalls in theatres post the release of ‘JHMS’ trailer has been dismal.
- Imtiaz Ali: The director has his following, but even some of his good films only cater to a small section of the audience. When the budget is high and the lead star is someone like a SRK who commands a pan-India following, his treatment becomes a negative.
- Release period: ‘JHMS’ has one week to perform before it loses out on screens to ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’. So it either has to get a big initial and cover costs within the first week or carry excellent word-of-mouth to survive beyond the first weekend.
There are other factors like the phase that the industry is going through at the moment. After the ‘Bahubali 2’ madness in April / May, barring ‘Tubelight’ and ‘Half Girlfriend’, no film has even managed a face-saving opening at the box office.
IndicineFBO: Predicting films has become increasing difficult in recent times, what with our accuracy levels dropping quite considerably in the last 3 months compared to the first 2.5 years of IndicineFBO predictions. The Day 1 collections are falling in the range that can be termed as ‘shocking’ and we hope that isn’t the case with ‘JHMS’.
We are going with a prediction of Rs 17 crore for the opening day of ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’.
Movie | Day 1 | Official | Buzz | Date |
Simran | 2.6 | - | 1 | 15 Sep |
Lucknow Central | 1.8 | - | 1 | 15 Sep |
Bhoomi | 3.5 | - | 2 | 22 Sep |
Haseena Parkar | 1.0 | - | 1 | 22 Sep |
Judwaa 2 | 15.5 | - | 8 | 28 Sep |
Ok Jaanu | 5.6 | 4.08 | 2 | 13 Jan |
Kaabil* | 11.5 | 10.43 | 5 | 25 Jan |
Raees* | 21.5 | 20.42 | 9 | 25 Jan |
Jolly LLB 2 | 14.25 | 13.2 | 6 | 10 Feb |
Rangoon | 6.3 | 5.0 | 2 | 24 Feb |
Commando 2 | 4.0 | 4.25 | 2 | 3 Feb |
Badrinath Ki Dulhania | 11.6 | 12.25 | 7 | 10 Mar |
Phillauri | 4.0 | 4.02 | 2 | 24 Mar |
Begum Jaan | 3.1 | 3.94 | 3 | 14 Apr |
Noor | 2.2 | 1.54 | 1 | 21 Apr |
Baahubali 2 | 33 | 41 | 10 | 28 Apr |
Sarkar 3 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 2 | 12 May |
Meri Pyaari Bindu | 2.7 | 1.75 | 2 | 12 May |
Half Girlfriend | 9.2 | 10.27 | 6 | 19 May |
Raabta | 6.5 | 5.61 | 4 | 9 Jun |
Tubelight | 27 | 21.15 | 8 | 23 Jun |
Mom | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3 | 7 Jul |
Guest In London | 1.7 | 1.5 | 2 | 7 Jul |
Jagga Jasoos | 8.8 | 8.57 | 4 | 14 Jul |
Munna Michael | 8.2 | 6.65 | 3 | 21 Jul |
Mubarakan | 7.2 | 5.25 | 3 | 28 Jul |
Jab Harry Met Sejal | 17.0 | 15.25 | 6 | 4 Aug |
Toilet: EPK | 13.0 | 13.1 | 6 | 11 Aug |
Bareilly Ki Barfi | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2 | 18 Aug |
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz | 2.0 | 2.05 | 1 | 25 Aug |
A Gentleman | 5.7* | 4.04* | 2 | 25 Aug |
Baadshaho | 10.4 | - | 3 | 1 Sep |
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan | 2.2 | - | 2 | 1 Sep |
well if it collects it will b a big shame.in worst case it has to collect more than Tubelight as when we compare it with Tubelight it has got everything in its favour.it has better trailor,better music,releasing on normal friday as against pre eid of tubelight,it has Top heroine as against that chinese herione.
Around 12 cores opening
Meanwhile, I must congratulate Indicine in advance for making the perfect prediction for JHMS. 17 crore FBO! On point!
Just few crores short of Raees
Not interested in another flop of srk & I m waiting for TEPK.
Father-daughter duo! Unsuitable Jodi.
I request all SRK fans to ensure that they purchase their movie tickets already. They shouldn’t come here to create havoc when JHMS starts recording 15 Crores day one. ????
Waiting for A Gentleman.
are you joking indicine?17cr
15 crs, any Srk fan want to challenge this ?
going by the reviews, even 15 crs will be a challenge now.
It won’t be a clean Hit for sure !!!!!!!
The film is just an urban version of jab we met not anything new, a friend of mine told me who watched it in dubai.
The film is just a crap nothing special urban version of jab we met, a friend of mine watched it in dubai.
Liaaaarrrr!!!
Every one is loving it here at dubai
Box office performance of JHMS and TEPK is not only important for SRK and Akki but also for hindi cinema in general..
No one can disagree that this is the toughest time for industry..
Will watch both for the love of hindi cinema..
I am sure it’s not cross 18 crore without given any paid money of media houses. Real or fake collection mein Bhoot diffrence hone wala h. Ise hit karane ke liye srk kisi b had tak girega.
I think haters are waiting for this article for hating . ALL THE BEST SRK.LOVE ? YOU
The early reviews are mostly negative and audience reaction is meh. I think Indicine rating is going to be below 3 stars.
The biggest con is Shahrukh Khan
Out of those 17 crs 6 crs will be booked by Corporate Bookers… So his power is of only 11 crs…. SRK Star Power value is 11 crs plus corpbook 6 crs Total 17 crs…
Flop