I am still King Khan, even my bad films do well – SRK

Some excerpts from an article in Business Standard..

What’s at stake for Shahrukh Khan with Ra One

• Big money (Rs 200 crore) and SRK’s reputation as the King of Bollywood. He hasn’t had a single release in the last year and a half. During this period, Salman Khan has given three films that have done domestic collections in excess of Rs 100 crore: Bodyguard (Rs 147 crore), Dabangg (Rs 140 crore) and Ready (Rs 120 crore). In contrast, none of SRK’s films has touched the magic figure of Rs 100 crore in domestic ticket sales. While Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) did Rs 87 crore, Om Shanti Om (2007) sold Rs 79 crore and My Name is Khan (2010) did Rs 72 crore. Aamir Khan’s last two films, 3 Idiots (2009) and Ghajini (2008) too did over Rs 100 crore — Rs 204 crore and Rs 114 crore, respectively.
• Ra.One is being produced by Eros International. On top of the Rs 150 crore spent on production, it has spent another Rs 50 crore on marketing. That brings the total investment to Rs 200 crore. The satellite rights were sold to Star TV for Rs 35 crore almost a year back. T Series has bought the music rights for another Rs 15 crore. More could come from sale to the digital media and pay-per-view television. “Almost 70 to 80 per cent of the cost will be recovered from pre-licensed content before the film hits the theatres,” says Eros CFO Kamal Jain. The rest of the money needs to come through ticket sales.
• SRK expects Ra.One to do 25 to 30 per cent better in collections than his last release, My Name is Khan, which had collected Rs 72 crore in India and Rs 86 crore abroad. While cinema tickets are moderately taxed overseas, in India the incidence is as high as 60 per cent. SRK’s calculations may help Eros break even, though trade analysts say the film needs to collect around Rs 250 crore in India and abroad. “For SRK, a lot is at stake both personally and professionally,” says film distributor Suniel Wadhwa. SRK acknowledges that his personal fortune is at stake. “When I started out, I told my family that the movie would cost me much more than a Bollywood film and I may even lose money on it. They backed me,” says he. “While we have gone over-budget, in fact nearly five times over the original amount, I know it’s not an unrecoverable amount.”

Have the other Khan’s gone past Shahrukh Khan?

• SRK sarcastically says “Whatever the naysayers may write, I am still King Khan, and you may call me any name. Even my bad films draw collections that some of the so-called good films don’t. If the film does not pull through, then the wedding season is round the corner and I can go and dance in a few weddings to earn back the remainder. A couple of films and endorsements and I will be good.