QnA: Why is an ensemble cast viewed negatively?

Q. Why is it that a top star working in an ensemble cast is viewed negatively by people today? Many of the Amitabh movies had 2-3 heroes in which he worked with Dharmemdra, Vinod Khanna, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Rishi Kapoor. Movies like Kabhie Kabhie, Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb had 3 heroes and these were movies in the heydays of Amitabh. Why has that trend reduced now and why people view it negatively for a top star? ANK

A. An ensemble cast isn’t a negative for any film. There have been instances in the recent past when big stars have worked in multi-starrers. Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara had Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol. Even the upcoming Dilwale has two bankable male stars. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham had arguably the biggest star cast of all time.

But if your question is specific to the biggest stars in the industry working together in a film, then the two biggest problems are economics and script. Economics because the market value of the three Khans is more than Rs 50 crore per film. When two or three of them act together, their fee itself would be more than the budget of the costliest film ever produced in the Hindi film industry. The next problem is the script, that has to do justice to all three of them. Salman wouldn’t want to be out shined by Shah Rukh and vice versa. And convincing Aamir will prove to be a herculean task in itself. Then, there are other issues like dates. As long as all three are at the top of their stardom, it’s unlikely to happen. Maybe in a few years from now, a top director and producer will bring all of them together in a film.

Q. Will Hate Story 3 buzz affect Tamasha collections? Wazir releasing 1st week of Jan Your take on that.The first week hasn’t been good from the past many years for the industry? – Aman

A. Not at all. The target audience of Hate Story 3 is completely different from Tamasha. Also, since Tamasha releases a week before Hate Story 3, it has one open week at the box office. If the word-of-mouth is good, it won’t be affected by Hate Story 3 in Week 2. If Tamasha disappoints, then the competition in Week 2 doesn’t matter. As for Wazir releasing in the first week of January, films releasing in this period haven’t performed well because the audience has rejected the content of those films. Back in 2011, No One Killed Jessica released in the first week of January and did well at the box office. Wazir will rely on word-of-mouth. If the audience like the film, it’ll do well, irrespective of the release date.

Q. 18th December is a normal Friday. Is it really possible for both the movies to collect 50 crore combined? And what is the expected screen space for both the movies? Can Bajirao Mastani touch 15 crore on day one and Dilwale 30 crore as to only a best result makers can hope of? What is your opinion? – Rahul Garg

A. The highest a film has collected on a non-holiday is the opening day business of Dhoom 3 (Rs 36 crore). Rs 50 crore is too big a number for a non-holiday release, something that hasn’t been achieved even by big films releasing on national holidays. The trade would be delighted if the combined collections of Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale crosses the Rs 40 crore mark on Day 1. That would be huge. We expect Diwale to be in the 20-23 crore range and Bajirao Mastani to be in the 11-13 crore range on Day 1. This could change once the music and song promos are out.

Part 1: Why is an ensemble cast viewed negatively?

Part 2: Audience and trade response to trailer of Dilwale?

Part 3: Will Ghayal Once Again affect Airlift at the box office?