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

Q. Do you think ‘Ghayal Once Again’ will have any effect on Airlift as the latter releases one week after ‘Ghayal Once Again’? And is that a sensible move by Sunny Deol to release their movie before Airlift which looks red hot and also to release the movie in January as the month has been really bad for box office. Ghayal will be an important film for Sunny. What’s your prediction for opening day of Ghayal? – Mike

A. Again, it doesn’t make sense to discuss the impact that ‘Ghayal Once Again’ can have on ‘Airlift’. Films starring Sunny Deol in the lead, haven’t performed well at the box office in recent times. His strong hold is the East Punjab circuit and a few other mass centres in the North. ‘Airlift’ on the other hand, is a completely different film from ‘Ghayal Once Again’ and holds very little appeal towards the masses. So even if ‘Ghayal’ carries incredible word-of-mouth, it’s unlikely to affect the business of ‘Airlift’. We expect ‘Ghayal’ to take a opening of around 6 crore. Final prediction will be made on the day before release.

Q. Which movie would emerge as the biggest blockbuster of 2016? Can Dangal make a new record of becoming the first movie to enter 400 crore club? Since Aamir is the only actor who have started 100, 200 and 300 crore club? Can Housefull 3 marks the first movie of Akshay Kumar to enter 200 crore club? – Harjot Gill

A. It’s unfair to give the entire credit of these 200 crore and 300 crore clubs to the lead actors. A superstar can only ensure a big initial at the box office, but taking the film into ‘record-grossing’ territory depends on several other factors. Genre for example is very important, because a film like Talaash can never be a record grosser. Films like Dhoom 3 have it easier because the franchise already has a following. But ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and ‘PK’ were record grossers, because those films were a combination of good content, universally appealing genre, repeat-value and of course, a bankable superstar. So it’s way too early to talk about 400 crore grossers, when we do not even know if a film like ‘Dangal’ will appeal to every section of the audience.

Q. Would it be right to say that Rohit Shetty is perhaps the most successful director after Rajkumar Hirani in present times? – Challa

A. Rohit Shetty is one of the top directors in the industry, but there are several other directors too who have a fantastic box office record. Rajkumar Hirani tops the list, followed by Rakesh Roshan – both have directed 4 hugely successful films since 2000. Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar too have a fantastic track record, but they’ll be tested now, as they don’t have Shah Rukh’s backing, which ensures a ‘HIT’ even if the film isn’t liked. Karan Johar has directed ‘Student Of The Year’, which wasn’t a huge hit, but managed to recover costs. Kabir Khan, after Bajrangi Bhaijaan, is also one of the biggest directors in the industry.

That ends our QnA Session. You can read all Question and Answers in the links below.

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?