Baahubali vs Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Box Office Collection Comparison

It’s been a record-breaking couple of weeks for film business in India. Both ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ are doing extraordinary business in the domestic markets and outside. But comparing a Telugu film ‘Baahubali’ with a Hindi film is not as simple and straight forward as comparing two Hindi films. There are so many factors that differentiate the two film industries.

We have listed some of the most important factors below:

• Entertainment Tax: There is a ‘HUGE’ difference between entertainment taxes for Hindi movies and Telugu or for that matter any other regional film.For example, in Maharastra, Hindi films pay approximately 50% as entertainment tax (varies depending on ticket prices), while Marathi films are tax free in the same state. For example, if 10,000 tickets of both Marathi and Hindi films are sold at Rs 300 each, the nett collections of Marathi film will be Rs 30 Lakhs, while the collections of Hindi films will be Rs 15 lakhs only as about 50% goes towards entertainment tax to the government. For Hindi films, entertainment taxes varies from state to state. Telugu films are charged 15% entertainment tax in home state, while the same tax as Hindi films would be applicable outside Andhra/Nizam territory, including dubbed versions.
• Language: The second factor is language. Just like English films have a massive advantage all over the world, Hindi films too benefit due to the fact that Hindi is understood by a majority people in India. So a film like ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ would have a decisive advantage over ‘Baahubali’ as most people outside Andhra Pradesh and Telangana do not understand Telugu. Yes, ‘Baahubali’ was dubbed in various other languages, but the experience of watching a film in its original language is entirely different.
• Stars: Who doesn’t know Salman Khan in India? The superstar has a fan-following in every nook and corner of the country, which significantly increases the business potential of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. On the other hand, Telugu actors have limited appeal outside their home state. In fact, Rana Daggubati, since he has done a few Hindi films, is a better known actor in other states as compared to Prabhas. The biggest superstar in Telugu films, the likes of Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi, are well-known, but the business that their films generate is restricted to South Indian states.
• History: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is breaking opening records in India, but even if it does well enough to beat the Rs 340 crore (nett domestic) record of ‘PK’, it will only beat the film by a small margin. ‘Baahubali’ on the other hand is not even competing with other Telugu films. It has already more than DOUBLED the highest grossing Telugu film of all time and should go on to put up much bigger numbers. To give that some perspective, it’s similar to ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ collecting Rs 700 crore at the domestic box office, thereby trouncing the existing record of ‘PK’ and doing more than double the business. That’s how earth-shattering and record breaking the collections of ‘Baahubali’ have been. The previous highest grossing dubbed regional film was Rs 19 crore, the Hindi version of ‘Baahubali’ has already collected Rs 68 crore, which is more than 3 times the previous best!
• Budget: The two-part series of ‘Baahubali’ has been made at an estimated budget of Rs 225 – 250 crore. The scale of the movie is comparable to some of those Hollywood films. ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is a smaller film, that was made on a budget of less than 75 crore (cost of production).

Baahubali vs Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Now that we have listed out the key factors that differentiate Kabir Khan’s ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali’, check out the box office collections of the film. We have distributors share, net collections (excluding entertainment tax) and gross collections (including entertainment tax).

Also note, that we do not believe in differentiating different versions of the film i.e Hindi, Telugu, Tamil etc. The cost of dubbing and release is included in the ‘LANDING COSTS’. Even if ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ was released in Telugu and Tamil, the maximum collections from regional versions would have been around 10 crore – and collections of the Hindi version in those states would be affection. It balances out in the end.

If you do not understand certain terms, read the following:

• Worldwide Gross: The total collections from ticket sales all over the world. Including entertainment tax.
• India Gross: The total collections from ticket sales in India. Including entertainment tax.
• India Net Collections: Entertainment tax is deducted from total gross collections.
• India Distributor’s Share: Entertainment tax and Exhibitor’s share (i.e share / fee of theatres) is deducted from total gross collections.

We have tried to make this article as simple and easy to understand as possible. If you still do not understand, please read the article carefully again. Every information is included.