Jab Harry Met Sejal likely to fall under Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha and Rockstar

A week ago, ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ was expected to easily cross the 100 crore mark and the industry had pinned its hope on the film crossing the 150 crore mark. After all, it was Shah Rukh Khan’s return to a genre that has excelled in and delivered the biggest blockbusters of his career.

The film also had the industry’s top leading lady Anushka Sharma and the songs, which are important for romantic films, had gained popularity too even though it did not have a chartbuster.

But less than 6 days after the release of the film, ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ has collected just 55 crore net and has fallen to collections in the 3-crore range. With ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ set to release this weekend and business of ‘JHMS’ not holding up in the first week itself, the Imtiaz Ali directed film is certain to finish with lifetime business of less than 70 crore.

A lifetime total of 65-crore is looking likely and that would mean the film would do the unthinkable. It will fall under the total collections of Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha (2015), Rockstar (2011) and even the 8-year-old film Love Aaj Kal (2009).

To say the absolute least, these are shocking numbers. Even outright multiplex films like ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2’ used to collected 65 crore in 2015. But here we have a Shah Rukh Khan – Anushka Sharma film, which was sold for very high prices, falling under 70-crore – which in other words, is 40% less than the all-India first day collections of ‘Bahubali 2: The Conclusion’.

Has the expectation and taste of the audience changed after the release of ‘Bahubali 2’ or is it the further increase in entertainment options from online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Video that’s affecting film business? Could it be the ever increasing ticket prices or is the value of stars reducing?

The questions don’t end there. Has the audience completely lost interest in rom-coms or is Shah Rukh Khan losing his audience due to poor choice of films in the last 3 years?

Check out the box office collections of Imtiaz Ali Films below; ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ is likely to be his fourth highest grosser and his biggest failure to date.