Will you watch ‘Dear Zindagi’ for Shah Rukh Khan?

Gauri Shinde’s Dear Zindagi has been in news in the last couple of weeks for its promos, but on its own, ‘female centric’ multiplex films do not usually open above the 5 crore mark at the domestic box office. A few exceptions have been Deepika Padukone’s Piku, which collected Rs 5.7 crore on its opening day, but the film was carrying excellent word-of-mouth and showed good growth on Friday evening itself.

‘Dear Zindagi’ too is a niche film targeted at the audience in metro cities, but the difference is going to be Shah Rukh Khan.

The superstar has a pan-India following, but even in a film like ‘Dear Zindagi’ his presence should help double the collections of the film on Day 1. Not only will it ensure higher footfalls at metro cities, but the ‘Tier 2’ cities should also see an increase in ticket sales.

The expected opening range without SRK would be somewhere around the 4-5 crore mark, but the film could double its collections and post a total closer to the 9-10 crore mark on Friday. The impact of demonetisation on film business has reduced in the last few days and circulation of money, especially in big cities, has increased.

‘Dear Zindagi’ will also be the first multiplex film after the Diwali release ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. Nearly a month has passed with films like ‘Rock On 2’ and ‘Force 2’ failing to generate any interest. Will ‘Dear Zindagi’ bring back the audience to theatres? Will Shah Rukh Khan’s presence help take the film close or even over the 10 crore mark? Those are going to be the big questions in the next few days as the industry limps back to normalcy after the Prime Minister’s decision to invalidate high-value currency notes on November 8.

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