Second half of the year important for younger stars in the industry

The first half of the year, which had film releases featuring major superstars like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan – had an unexpected winner. Varun Dhawan’s Badrinath Ki Dulhania, also featuring the terrific Alia Bhatt, was the biggest success in the first half of 2017.

The second half has as many as 7 films featuring the younger generation of stars and the box office fate of these films will be extremely important for every actor.

Ranbir Kapoor (Jagga Jasoos – July 14): Arguably the best actor in the industry today, Ranbir returns after ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ with the much-delayed ‘Jagga Jasoos’. The promos have generated quite a bit of buzz, credit for which should almost entirely go to Ranbir for holding it all together. But films like these can only go two ways – a critically acclaimed classic that does well at the box office or a film that fails to entertain and falls flat. For terrific actors like Ranbir, one or two failures make little or no difference from a career point-of-view, but money-wise there’s plenty riding on the film. He’d also be hoping to get a success behind him before the much-awaited biggie (Dutt biopic) next year.

Tiger Shroff (Munna Michael – July 21): A week after ‘Jagga Jasoos’, it’ll be Tiger Shroff’s time to entertain the audience with the action-film ‘Munna Michael’. The promos haven’t quite managed to generate the kind of buzz that ‘Baaghi’ did, but with the Salman Khan Eid release falling flat, the masses will be waiting for ‘their kind of film’ in theatres. Surprisingly, the makers haven’t effectively used Nawazuddin Siddiqui to attract the multiplex audience and the leading lady hasn’t yet managed to make an impression. Neither has the music. ‘Munna Michael’ is important for Tiger. His last film ‘A Flying Jatt’ failed, but all of his films under Sabbir Khan’s direction have worked big. If this doesn’t work, it’ll be a major setback, which would probably make him rethink and work on his weaknesses rather than playing to his strengths in every film.

Arjun Kapoor (Mubarakan – July 28): Luck hasn’t been on his side lately. Half Girlfriend had an excellent release date, but the glorious run of ‘Bahubali 2’ changed everything. Mubarakan too was one of the few films that had two open weeks, including Raksha Bandhan. But the announcement of ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’, the preponement of ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ and the much-talked-about ‘Indu Sarkar’ on the same day, has left ‘Mubarakan’ will very little breathing space. Amidst intense competition, Anees Bazmee has to be at the top of his game for the film to work. Onto the more positive side of things, Arjun films been opening above expectations. During times when most films are struggling for an initial, it’s important for a film like ‘Mubarakan’ to open well and then carry good word-of-mouth.

Sidharth Malhotra (A Gentleman – August 25, Ittefaq – November 2): Sidharth’s career was going well when the ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ setback happened. The film was a washout at the box office. The actor has two films lined-up this year, an action-comedy titled ‘A Gentleman’ with Jacqueline Fernandes as his co-star and the low-budget ‘Ittefaq’ also featuring Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna. Both are important films before ‘Aiyaary’ with Neeraj Pandey next year.

Varun Dhawan (Judwaa 2 – September 29): He’s the biggest star among the younger generation of actors, probably right up there in Ranbir Kapoor’s league with the multiplex audience and ahead when it comes to the masses. His choice of films has also resulted in a strong fan-following amongst the kids, the audience that he will be catering to with a film like ‘Judwaa 2’. Varun’s consistency at the box office (both in terms of opening and lifetime business), along with the film taking forward Salman Khan’s popular ‘Judwaa’ series, has raised expectations from ‘Judwaa 2’. With an excellent release date, Varun legendary father David Dhawan as the director, ‘Judwaa 2’ is expected to perform better than ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ at the box office. The expectations are high, will the film deliver?

Ranveer Singh (Padmavati – November 17): Ranveer is loved and has a strong fan-following with the youth, but what’s been missing is consistency. But that isn’t the case under Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s direction. After ‘Ram Leela’ and a career-defining performance in ‘Bajirao Mastani’, the actor returns with the same team (with the addition of Shahid Kapoor) in the year’s most expensive film ‘Padmavati’. The period after Golmaal Again (Diwali) and Tiger Zinda Hai (Christmas) doesn’t have any big release. If that doesn’t change, ‘Padmavati’ will have enough time to perform – as long as the makers manage to release the film on the scheduled date and more importantly, it turns out to be well made.

Which of the above mentioned films are you looking forward to? Pick 3!