AskIndicine: Live Now!

AskIndicine begins right now. Post your questions in the comments section below:

Q. When can we expect the trailer for Raaes to release?

A. It’s releasing in November this year.

Q. How important are actresses for collections in a Khan film?

A. Popular female stars like Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor (and others) are not bankable stars on their own (solo films), but they do add tremendous value to commercial films featuring top stars in the industry. Salman’s pairing with Daisy Shah didn’t work and it could well be the pairing that didn’t excite the audience – apart from poor production values and direction. An attractive leading lady attracts the masses, while good performances (Deepika in Chennai Express / Cocktail for example) can also add to the word-of-mouth and help increase the business of films.

Q. Is it true that Sanjay Leela Bhansali film Padmavati and Sanjay Dutt Biopic is releasing along with Tiger Zinda Hai

A. Padmavati is scheduled to released a week before Tiger Zinda Hai. But unless ‘Tubelight’ fails (which is highly unlikely), it’s impossible to take on Salman Khan given the kind of stardom he commands at the moment. The budget of Padmavati is said to be 175 crore plus, so it remains to be seen what sort of release strategy the makers of the film opt for. If the content is outstanding, it doesn’t really need a favourable weekend – but it doesn’t make sense to suffer the squeeze that the Salman Khan film can put Padmavati under. Basically, every single-screen that releases Hindi films would want to show Tiger Zinda Hai and multiplexes will give it higher number of shows too. Plus the backing of Yash Raj Films and Ali Abbas Zafar as director. Not worth the risk.

Q. The makers of Raees haven’t officially published the date of 26th January anywhere, but everyone is saying like have confirmed.. what could he the next best date which is empty for Raees in start of 2017?

A. On May 4 this year, Shah Rukh, Ritesh and Farhan released a statement officially announcing that Raees has been shifted from Eid this year to Republic Day next year (Read article). The makers are currently not looking at any other date. Raees is scheduled to arrive on 26 January 2017.

Q. Can Rakesh Roshan wrap Krrish 4 in time to release on Christmas 2018. Considering the extent of VFX to be involved in the film. Or did he declare the date just to create hype around the film.

A. There is plenty of time to shoot and complete Krrish 4 – more than 2 years and 3 months for Christmas 2018. But it looks like the unexpected announcement was to try and mount pressure on SRK to make him push Raees to a different date. You can’t just be looking at a Krrish Ganapti idol and suddenly announce a film as big as Krrish 4.

Q. Why sequels are not working anymore?

A. It’s not that sequels or franchise films aren’t working. The content hasn’t been upto the mark. Raaz Reboot had dull promos and the music album was arguably the weakest of the series. Great Grand Masti was leaked more than a week before its theatrical release. Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 was a poor film. Housefull 3 did fairly well, but it wasn’t liked as much as the previous film in the series.

Q. What is Hrithik Roshan doing next apart from Kaabil? Is it only Krrish 4 in 2018? He said he has a surprise for fans? Do you have any idea about that?

A. Nothing apart from Kaabil. He might do a film that’ll release between Kaabil and Krrish 4.

Q. What makes Salman Khan different from other stars?

A. He’s one of the few stars in the industry (probably the only star) who keeps the interests of his fans and his audience above everything else. Aamir only signs films that excites him, same with Hrithik. Shah Rukh does varied films – most of those may not even appeal to every section of his huge fanbase – like FAN, which was a film meant for fans, but his die-hard fans in smaller towns did not even come out to watch it in theatres. He also likes to work with directors who he’s comfortable working with (something that has probably changed in the last couple of years). Akshay keeps going, mixing it up and daring to be different – even if it means some of his films like Baby, Special 26, Airlift completely desert his core fan-base at smaller towns.

Salman functions differently. He’s been opting for human stories, that are high on both action and emotion – that balance of appealing to the masses as well as the classes is being achieved, which is giving him those huge 300 crore grossers. It also helps that every section of the audience is liking his films – kids, youth, families. Even the senior citizens of the country love his films because they are clean. He doesn’t care about what critics or the so-called intellectuals think. There’s a lot to learn from Salman’s career for younger actors out there, especially someone like Shahid who’s been wasting his talent by working with directors whose films doesn’t interest 95% of the audience.

Q. Women-centric films are always content driven, thus falling into niche genre. Do you think if made on big canvas, a commercial women-centric film can work big time in India, like Lara Croft, Hunger games etc ?

A. Wasn’t Sonakshi Sinha’s Akira meant to be that film? It had a big director, action for the masses.. it didn’t work. For higher budget ‘female centric’ films, a good initial is important.. or at the very least, there should be signs that the audience is willing to come out for a film that has female star as the only known face. But when even critically acclaimed and multiplex loved films like Piku are maxing out at less than 80 crore, it doesn’t make sense to invest a lot of money. The risk is too high and the chances of success too low.

Q. Can MS Dhoni movie cross 150 crore at the box office? If the film is strongly liked by the audience as well as critics? Please answer my question this time at least

A. The film will get a solid initial, a 10 crore plus opening looks certain at the moment.  But 150 crore is a huge total and for the film to get to that number, it has to find appreciation across the country.  Difficult to predict without watching the film.

Q. Why you don’t have filmographies of actors like Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Amitabh Bachchan, Jitendra, Dharmendra, Sunny Deol etc.

A. We have gathered quite a lot of data from old film magazines, interactions with trade analysts etc but the data of older actors is not complete. We are also working on updating the current filmography of actors with more accurate collections and verdicts. But as long as we stick to official figures, it’s difficult to push it online. It’ll be very controversial too. We are looking at including trade estimates in our box office reports – but the concern is, we can’t be publishing our own figures and then evaluating the accuracy of our FBO. Do post your suggestions, if you have any.

Q. What are the total collections and verdicts of Dishoom, Mohenjo Daro, Rustom, Happy Bhaag Jayegi, A Flying Jatt and Akira ?

A. Dishoom finished at 70 crore. Above average. Mohenjo Daro 58 crore Disaster. Rustom 127 crore  Super Hit. Happy Bhaag Jayegi 28 crore Above Average. A Flying Jatt 37 crore Flop. Akira 27 crore Flop.

Q. Is it impossible for a non holiday release to score big at box office? Big means shattering all records ie.. like Bajrangi Bhaijaan or PK. 

A. In the past, records were achieved without holiday or favourable release period, so there is no reason why a film can’t go on to be the highest grosser of all time if released during a normal weekend. The Jungle Book did nearly 190 crore, it released in April. Tanu Weds Manu Returns did 150 crore. If the sequel of 3 Idiots is releasing bang in the middle of April and it carries the kind of word-of-mouth the previous film did, there is no reason why it can’t do 350 crore plus. A good film that appeals to majority of audience, will always find a way to succeed – irrespective of release date.

We’ve got to understand that the big weekends are big, because big actors have made it big with their presence and films. It doesn’t mean any actor can come with any film during Eid and it’s a sure shot blockbuster.

There are way too many questions coming in and we can’t possibly give detailed answers to most of them.. so shorter answers from now on.

Q. Since Bahubali: The Conclusion is releasing on a non holiday what are your expectations for the opening day?

A. Hindi version could well be 20 crore plus.

Q. Which directors have the highest success ratio? Can you name them along with their successful films?

A. There are a lot of directors who have nearly 100% success ratio – Rajkumar Hirani, Rakesh Roshan in the last 15 years, Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Kabir Khan.. just to name a few.

Q. Any news about when the teaser or trailer of Dangal is releasing ?

A. Trailer will be out next month.

Q. If Raees and Kaabil clashes which film will take the good initial considering genre and starcast of both films. What is your opinion before revealing the trailer of both movies.

A. All factors balanced out, Shah Rukh Khan is still the bigger star.. so his films should quite easily take the bigger opening. But a lot can change after the trailer, songs and eventually the content. Star power alone can’t win a clash, content takes over Day 2 onwards.

Q. How would you rate the marketing strategy of Befikre?

A. Poor, they have started way too early.

Q. Is the reason for lack of good horror films from Bollywood the reason why the Kanchana films have found such a huge response on Television? Not just for horror films, does this also apply for hindi dubbed action masala films from South(Main Hoon Lucky the racer, Fighterman Singham, etc)?

A. Kanchana 2 did well at the Tamil box office too. It’s not just horror, but a mixture of many genres, massy and entertaining for a lot of people. These are the kind of films that do well on television.

Q. Why do films like Airlift, Neerja and Kapoor and Sons get such a lukewarm response on Television?

A. It’s too boring for the television audience and the appeal is limited to metro cities.

Q. How much screens AA Films targeting for Raees ?

A. It’s way too early to talk about screens. Long way to go.

Q. Shahrukh Khan next film ‘The Ring’ should release on Eid 2018. I know Eid belongs to Salman but he has no release on Eid 2018. His film Tiger Zinda Hai release on Xmas 2017 so, he had enough time to complete one film in span of five months. 2017-18 is like a year of 2012-13 when salman had no release on Eidid 2013 Shahrukh came and shatter all records. So, Shahrukh had best chance to release his film The Ring on Eid 2018. What do you think.

A. Eid 2018 is too far ahead, Imtiaz – SRK film will be ready for release in the second half of 2017. They were first looking at Independence Day weekend and then Dussera release (September 29). Both dates are now taken by Crack and Judwaa 2. There aren’t too many dates left in 2017, else it’ll be a clash.

Q. Is Kaabil a low budget film i.e around or below 50 crore as it have Roshans as producers and shot in Mumbai ?

A. It’s not a low budget film. Wait for the trailer.

Q. What are the response to 2 song promos of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil so far?

A. Positive. The songs have done very well, the visuals not so much.

Q. Who is more popular among masses… Ajay or Akshay?

A. Akshay

Q. Do you think Airlift can win awards like Filmfare or National award?

A. It may not even get a nomination, like Baby last year.

Q. Top actresses presently based upon their acting talent and box office?

A. Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma.

Q. If a movie gets record views on you tube how the producers are getting benefitted from that. Do they have any profit sharing ratio?

A. The revenue from the advertisement that you see before and during the videos, is shared between the publisher of the video and YouTube (Google).

Q. Do you think the tittle of a movie can make a difference in collection?

A. It can. The working title of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was Running with the bulls. If that title was retained, the impact wouldn’t have been as much as the Hindi title. Same with SRK-Imtiaz film ‘The Ring’. It’ll be changed. Aamir once said every Hindi films should have a Hindi title, it increases ticket sales at smaller centres.

Q. What are the Top 5 highest grossing movies of Ajay Devgn?

A. Singham Returns, Golmaal 3, Bol Bachchan, Son Of Sardaar, Singham.

That’s the end of today’s QnA. 30 questions were answered today, thank you for joining us.