AskIndicine: Live QnA begins at 4:30PM

Live Question and Answer session begins at 4:30PM Indian Standard Time. Post your questions in the comments section below.

We would love to take interesting questions, instead of the usual ‘which star is bigger’.

Update: Since we have received more than 200 questions in less than 2 hours, we will be starting the Live QnA session at 4:3oPM IST.

Q: Can Imran Khan make a come back in the league of Ranbir, Shahid, Varun etc? Ayan Ahmed

A. The difference between Imran Khan and the names that you mention there, like Ranbir and Shahid Kapoor, is acting talent and charisma. Imran hasn’t really impressed with his acting in any of his films so far. Shahid hasn’t yet reached his true potential at the box office, but filmmakers are still willing to sign him because he can do everything – dance, comedy, romance and as we have seen in films like Haider, he’s a tremendously talented actor too. Ditto for Ranbir Kapoor, terrific actor, excellent screen presence.. which is why big directors like Karan Johar and Rajkumar Hirani are willing to sign him for their films. Varun and Ranveer hold appeal towards both the masses and the classes.

Q: Why Akshay Kumar movies are not crossing 100 crore, because he is doing 3 to 4 movies in a year, and why is still amongst top paid actors? Tabrez

A. An actor doing 3-4 movies a year can’t be an excuse for films failing to recover costs through theatrical business. If his films are under-performing due to back-to-back releases, then he has to either cut down on the number of films that he releases per year, or get the economics of his films right. The landing cost of Akshay Kumar films is 70 crore (on an average) and most films finish with lifetime business of 80 crore. Not good enough. Even Gabbar Is Back, his only profit-making film of 2015, recovered costs only because of satellite rights. Better planning, better promotional strategy, better content and a gap of atleast 5-6 months between two films, will help the investors of his films big time.

Q: Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo has only 2 weeks as after than Tamasha is releasing? Do you think, it can cross 300 crores? – Ankur

A. 2 weeks is about the same time that Bajrangi Bhaijaan got, before the release of Drishyam. As long as the word-of-mouth is good, there is more than enough time for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo to do 300 crore or more. There is a lot of talk about ‘open weeks’ these days, but a film can only take advantage of open weeks if the content finds appreciation. Brothers had two open weeks, but business came crashing down in Week 2. On the other hand, Baahubali competed against the biggest film so far this year ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ but was unaffected in its second week.

Q: Can Hero beat the lifetime collections of Heropanti – T.N

A. Sooraj Pancholi’s Hero is a bigger film than Tiger Shroff’s Heropanti, which collected Rs 51 crore at the box office. There are expectations of a 7-8 crore opening because of Salman Khan’s backing and the music has done well too. If the opening is in that range, the film has the potential to be a much bigger grosser than Heropanti.

Q: When will Mohenjo Daro’s first poster / look will come? And what’s your prediction on first day opening ? – Rumii

A. The shoot is still in progress and no date for the first look poster has been finalised. Don’t expect anything this year. As far as box office predictions are concerned, it’s too early to talk about Mohenjo Daro. It’ll be Hrithik’s first movie in nearly 2 years, so the opening will be huge. 20 crore plus is pretty much guaranteed. If the scale of the film is as huge as Baahubali, then anything is possible. The film will also benefit from an extended 4-day weekend, as Independance Day falls on Monday. Once the teaser / trailer is released, our IndicineFBO predictions will be out on www.indicine.com/FBO, so stay tuned for that.

Q: By how many crores did Baabubali affect the business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan? Don’t you think it would have crossed 350 crores if it had not faced competition from very first day itself? – SK

A. Rains and Baahubali affected the business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan to a certain extent. But since the word-of-mouth of the film was extraordinary, a lot of people would have watched both films. The impact was more in South Indian circuits. Let’s just say, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had a much better chance of beating PK without competition from Baahubali.

Q: Deepika Padukone or Kangana Ranaut - The better actress?

A. Our pick, Kangana Ranaut. She’s a terrific actress. Deepika is more commercial, who can romance a superstar on-screen and then go completely de-glam in a film like Piku. Both are talented actresses, which is why they are also the highest paid female stars in the industry.

Q: In Dhoom 4 who is lead Actor? – Faruk Abdullah

A. Hasn’t been announced yet, nothing from YRF insiders either. Since the star cast gets bigger with each new film, it could be either Shahrukh or Salman. We’d love to see Akshay Kumar in a Dhoom film too, he’s outstanding at action.

Q: Hey Indicine, love your show. You have told us that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol have appeared only in about 50% of Dilwale’s shooting. So its safe to say the film will have Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in an important role. Do you think this can hurt the films collections and disappoint fans? – Malhar Dave

A. Before jumping into conclusions, let’s wait for the trailer and the film to release. Dilwale is a Shah Rukh Khan film. He’ll have enough screen time in the film.

Q: Sultan and Dangal have same wrestling story? Sultan will out first so it will affect dangle or not? – Sahil

A. Just because the protagonist is a wrestler, it doesn’t mean the story will be the same. Both films will be VERY different. Sultan will be more commercial.

Q: When looking at the past of Abishek Bachchan’s solo movies, we all clearly know that he isn’t a crowd puller and his solo movies have been disasters yet producers invest on him, Why is that? – Shamry

A. ‘Gadar’ director Anil Sharma once said, if a film works, it’s because of the entire team, but if it fails, the blame should almost entirely be on the director. So as long as the economics of a film are right, a film, more often than not, fails because of content. Even though Abhishek Bachchan isn’t a crowd puller and he lacks the presence of a star, All Is Well would have recovered costs if it was a well made film. It wasn’t a very expensive film either. But the promos weren’t appealing, the movie was bad, irrespective of the star-cast it would have failed.

Q: When will the trailer of Dilwale release? And what is the genre of this movie – romance, comedy, action or family drama? – Aashish

A. Dilwale is combination of everything. There has to be romance if a film stars SRK and Kajol. Every Rohit Shetty film has to have comedy and action. And families love his films. There will be a bit of everything, the last out-and-out Shahrukh Khan entertainer for 2015-16, before we move on to films like Fan and Raees. Trailer in October.

Q: According to you, what is the maximum business a movie can do today? Considering the amount of screens today and the ticket prices (you can only increase it to a certain extent). A movie starring a Khan, holiday release, positive reviews, positive word-of-mouth, few open weeks? Can a movie do say 500-600 in India or PK’s business is as good as it gets – Aamirsfan

A. Difficult question to answer. If a film like Baahubali can gross as much as some of the biggest grossers in the Hindi film industry, then there is potential for a Hindi film to collect 500-600 crore in India. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, in fact, performed better than PK at single-screens. So if there is a film that has huge appeal towards every section of the audience and has tremendous repeat-value, 400 crore plus is a definite possibility. Also grandeur and scale is important, as it reduces the impact of piracy. When the audience feel a film deserve a big screen experience, like ‘Baahubali’ for example, they would prefer to watch it in a theatre instead of watching a poor camera rip from the internet.

Q: When u say “Trade”, whom do u include in it? Exhibitors/Distributors/Producers? Never got this term. Can u explain please?? – NB

A. It includes everyone who invests in a film. Exhibitors, distributors, producers and even analysts.

Q: Do u think it’s wise from Aamir Khan to do 1 movie a year? He is now 50 and his next release is in Dec 2016? Don’t you think he should do more films as he is at peak? – Revanth

A. It’s about quality vs quantity. It’s difficult to make 2-3 films a year and maintain the high standard of quality. More so for someone like Aamir who is involved in every stage of filmmaking. For a film like Dangal, he had to put on 30 kilos of weight and then get back to his previous shape, that itself has taken about 6-8 months. Not only does the audience expect a classic from Aamir each time he releases a film, they also expect something very different from what he has done before. It’s a huge responsibility.

Q: Can you please explain the whole procedure about how the production house makes money, Theatres wallas and all those related to it. If we watch a movie. Please explain by giving an example - Rajnish

A. If you pay Rs 200 for a ticket, about 30% goes to the government as entertainment tax (varies from state to state). The remaining amount is shared between exhibitors (theatres) and distributors / producers. There are also fixed rental theatres, where the distributors pays a fee to the theatre owner to screen his film and whatever business the movie does at the theatre, goes entirely to distributors after deducting entertainment tax. That’s why the ‘distributor’s share’ at single-screen theatres is usually higher for movies that do well, as compared to multiplexes. Read more about this in our article Indian Box Office Model

Q: Among the Khans, who do you think has better upcoming films in hand? – Prashant Yadav

A. Aamir has just one film (Dangal). Salman has signed two – Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Sultan. Dabangg 3 and Kick 2 could happen too. Shahrukh has 4 films – Dilwale, Fan, Raees, Untitled Gauri Shinde film – all belonging to different genres. Our pick is Shahrukh’s lineup, although Ranbir Kapoor has a pretty impressive line up too. You should check out this page for the entire list of upcoming movies.

Q: Which is bigger grosser worldwide HAHK or DDLJ? – Tiger

A. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun is the bigger grosser.

Q: Can Singh Is Bling open above 20 crore as its releasing on national holiday? If Singham Returns can do 33 crore on 1st day national holiday, Singh Is Bling can too?

A. Whether Singh Is Bling can do 20 crore or not, would depend on it’s performance at multiplexes. Singham Returns was running houseful at multiplexes on Day 1. Singh Is Kinng released 7 years ago, when Akshay was at the peak of his stardom and back then, his films used to perform well at multiplexes. Also, Singh Is Bling releasing less than 50 days after Brothers.

Q: Katrina has Phantom releasing, but the hype is not there. And Jagga Jasoos is not looking promising. Is it the end of her career? It seems like she has already started to be replaced by newcomers – Rania

A. Katrina is still arguably the most popular actress in the industry today along with Deepika Padukone. Her presence will help the opening of Phantom. She is 32 now. It’s at about this age that the decline begins for most actresses. Except appreciation for her acting, Katrina has achieved almost everything a top Hindi film heroine can achieve in this industry.

End of QnA!  We have received more than 400 comments in this session today, by far the highest for a Live QnA session. Do join us next week. Thank you.