It’s been a long journey for Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees. The film went on floors early 2015, the brilliant teaser was released on Eid last year, the much-hyped clash with Sultan was averted during Eid this year.. and finally amidst more release date controversy and leaks, the theatrical trailer was put out for the audience.
Like almost all Shah Rukh Khan movies, the release of the trailer has generated instant hype and the PR too is in over-drive. Not only has ‘Facebook views’ been added to the ‘YouTube views’, but even the views on Instragram is being added to the tally – which has now, all combined, crossed the 30 million mark.
While ‘trailer records’ make absolutely no difference at the box office, what’s important is the response to the trailer from the trade and audience.
Positives of Raees Trailer:
- Shah Rukh Khan in a role with negative shades: It cannot get any bigger or better than SRK playing the lead antagonist cum hero. Darr and Baazigar were loved and the Don series of films continues to be a fan-favourite. It’s the single biggest reason why Raees is one of the most-awaited films of 2017.
- SRK vs Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Not many can match SRK when it comes to on-screen histrionics in a negative role, but Nawaz is a brilliant actor. His presence has been felt in the trailer, which promises to make the one-upmanship or the cat and mouse game between the two phenomenally exciting. Performance-wise, Raees will be a film to watch out for.
- 80s masala entertainer: Right from the font / styling of the title to what we get to see in the trailer, Raees would remind the older generation of film-going audience about some of the Bachchan classics from the 80s. A few people in the trade were quick to get nostalgic and point this out saying the film will be huge at single screens and smaller centres.
- Dialogues and dialogue-delivery: It’s difficult to describe, but Shah Rukh Khan is outstanding when it comes to dialogue delivery, especially when playing characters with evil shades. The dialogue writers have done justice too as ‘Ammi Jaan Kehti thi…..’, ‘Baniye ka dimaag, Miyanbhai ki daring’, ‘Battery saala’ or even the ‘Aa Raha Hoon’ has already become popular.
A few question marks (may not be trailer specific):
- Crime Thriller: It’s not the kind of film that would bring the family audience out in big numbers to the theatre. A film based on illegal alcohol trade, with an item number from Sunny Leone could have a negative impact on ticket sales.
- The director: Rahul Dholakia has directed three films so far in his career (not including a small segment in Mumbai Cutting) and all three were box office disasters. While he won critical acclaim and a national award for ‘Parzania’, commercial success has eluded him so far. Content is going to be very important as it all comes to word-of-mouth after the first 2 days.
The Numbers:
We asked 31 people in the trade (including theatre owners, distributors, trade veterans etc) for their feedback on the trailer. The response was generally very positive – 26 of them said the trailer was ‘good’, 3 said it was ‘average’, 2 said it was ‘poor’. None of these people were in any which way associated with the main men behind Excel Entertainment or Red Chillies Entertainment. Opinions were from known and unbiased sources.
The response from the audience was ‘positive’ too. In a poll on Twitter, we asked our followers if they liked the trailer. 75% people voted for ‘yes’ and 25% voted for ‘no’.
Did you like the #RaeesTrailer
— Indicine.com (@indicine) December 7, 2016
We have tied up with two exhibitors to get genuine opinion on the trailer. The results were interesting!
At one theatre from the Mysore circuit, we got 68 responses, out of which
- 26 people said they’ll watch Raees
- 29 said they’ll wait for the reviews and then decide between Kaabil or Raees
- 11 said they’ll watch Kaabil
- 2 said they’ll skip both!
At another theatre in Mumbai circuit we asked the same question to 76 people:
- 23 said they’ll watch Raees
- 37 said they’ll wait for the feedback / reviews and then decide between Raees and Kaabil
- 12 said they’ll watch Kaabil
- 4 said both movies will be skipped
Our rating for the Raees Trailer is 8 on 10.
| Movie | Trade Response | Audience Response | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wazir | Average | Average | 6 |
| Airlift | Winner | Outstanding | 8 |
| Kya Kool Hai Hum 3 | Average | Poor | 3 |
| Mastizaade | Average | Poor | 2 |
| Saala Khadoos | Average | Good | 7 |
| Ghayal Once Again | Average | Average | 4 |
| Sanam Teri Kasam | Average | Average | 4 |
| Fitoor | Poor | Average | 4 |
| Neerja | Average | Good | 8 |
| Love Shhuda | Poor | Poor | 4 |
| Tere Bin Laden 2 | Poor | Average | 5 |
| Jai Gangaajal | Average | Average | 5 |
| Teraa Suroor 2 | Average | Poor | 1 |
| Kapoor & Sons | Winner | Good | 7 |
| Rocky Handsome | Average | Average | 5 |
| Ki And Ka | Winner | Good | 7 |
| Fan | Winner | Good | 8 |
| Baaghi | Winner | Good | 6 |
| 1920 London | Average | Average | 3 |
| Azhar | Average | Average | 4 |
| Sarabjit | Average | Good | 6 |
| Housefull 3 | Average | Average | 5 |
| TE3N | Negative | Average | 7 |
| Udta Punjab | Average | Average | 6 |
| Sultan | Unanimous Winner | Oustanding | 8 |
| Great Grand Masti | Winner | Average | 6 |
| Dishoom | Average | Average | 5 |
| Mohenjo Daro | Average | Average | 7 |
| Rustom | Winner | Good | 8 |
| Happy Bhaag Jayegi | Average | Average | 6 |
| A Flying Jatt | Winner | Average | 7 |
| Akira | Average | Average | 5 |
| Baar Baar Dekho | Average | Good | 7 |
| Shivaay | Winner | Oustanding | 8 |
| Raaz Reboot | Poor | Poor | 3 |
| Pink | Average | Good | 7 |
| MS Dhoni | Winner | Good | 8 |
| Ae Dil Hai Mushkil | Poor | Average | 5 |
| Force 2 | Winner | Average | 6 |
| Befikre | Poor | Average | 6 |
| Rock On 2 | Poor | Poor | 4 |
| Tum Bin 2 | Poor | Poor | 3 |
| Kahaani 2 | Good | Good | 7 |
| Dangal | Winner | Outstanding | 8 |
| Kaabil | Good | Good | 7 |
| Raees | Winner | Good | 8 |
Ok
Never seen before response hai boss
Kaabil will crush it.Flop written all over it.
Response on social sites(Record Views & Likes etc) is controversial thing now days as it’s complete PR work.
Shivaay is latest example.
Frankly it’s very average trailer…even I think it’s disappointing for those who kept huge expectations after superb teaser.
By trailer film is looking like a bad attempt of recreating OATIM…even BGM also looks highly inspired from OATIM BGM.
All dialogues by Nawaz are brilliant but it’s not same for SRK…only first dialogue(Gujraat ki hawa) is good rest are really poor.
Mahira Khan is also remained unimpressive through out trailer.
She is not beautiful nor hot.
Laila o laila is instant hit & it’ll make huge impact on single screens.
You mentiined ‘Battery sala’ as dialouge in article and said it became famous….is it really dialouge? Actually I get irritated when i listen that words from her mouth….ladki lagti hai vo Srk ke ki,kajol Ko hi Lelo,vi hi suit Hoti hai usko
8 rating means trailer has receive an overwhelmingly positive response.
Now the most important task for Raees makers is to sustain this buzz.
They should keep releasing songs/dialogue promos at regular intervals because still we have 50+ days to go till Raees and Kaabil hit the theatres.
Its good that Indicine do a lot of effort in getting genuine trade and audience response of trailers but i dont think these all are worth it.
Look at trade response of Fan,Great grand masti, a flying jatt,shivaay and force 2, for them all were winner but they all failed at box office. On the other hand, Neerja,dishoom , Pink,ADHM were average/poor for them but they did very well on box office.
The main thing that matters is WOM.
I think that the directed is the most positive thing about raees . you said that parzania was a disaster , well it was banned in India , the release was limited with no actor that was even recognised by public at that time. and if you watch parzania you will know why he is the best for a gangster movie
raees audience response good n dangal outstanding???? dangal trailer 1 month likes 313k n raees 4 din mei 360k. totally biased towards 1 particular man.. likhne se pehle thora samajh k likhho
Gr8 article… @indicine
Raees is a mass riot and I have a gut feeling that it will do more business in mass areas like CP, Bihar etc than SRK’s strongholds Kolkata, Mysore.
Unless the storyline turns out to extremely pathetic, Raees looks safe from here.
I’m expecting a collection of 125 cr+, let’s see how it evolves from here.
So Sad , In India Genre Of A Film Can Be Called Negative Impact. Multiplex Films Are Called 5-City Films. So Sad We Will Never Be Able To Make Movies And Tv Shows Like “BreakingBad”, “Narcos”, “ShawshankRedemption” etc etc.
We All Want BoxOffice Record’s And So Called “Universal Films” With Unnecessary Action And A Heroine Who Is Just A Glamour Quotient.
So Sad.
SULTAN -Unanimous Winner & Outstanding
Only one thing matters #Raees releasing after 2 years can’t wait now
Sab Unees-Bees Hai. .humara Neta Raees hai
raees will destory blind ppls #kabil
baap(rajesh roshan) beta(hrithik roshsn) ki jodi nai chal gi!!!
For some reason I dont get why people get so hypocrite. When srk makes film for masses they say it’s too over the top for them. When he makes film for class they say it won’t make money hence flop. This time Raees is full on commercial movie which is only for entertainment and not intellectual enlightenment. So it should be treated as such. Everything about the Raees trailer was entertaining. So stop being a wuss who are complaining like a kid all the time.
Blockbuster!
Only Shah rukh khan rules
Raess is gonna win this clash by a Huge margin now.Not only the opening but even the LBO will be won by Raess.After Akki,now SRK will kick the butt of this sadakchap dancer & his moronic fans.?
Too much fun.?
Surely Blockbuster!
AA RAHA HOON
What kind of revi is this indicine, no stars to rate?? Thats nt cool it would have been a clear image for the positivity of the trailer anyways hope u read my comment and take action in future, I give it 3.5 stars and please post befikre collections every site has done it without u
Nawazuddin Looked great in the trailer?
I m just waiting for the day when HR & his bheekari fans abusive behavior,ego & the whole Arrogance is gonna die which will show them their aukaat!Both HR & his fans live in delusion thinking he is a superstar! ROFL?
#25th Jan mark this Date!
We will show u & ur stars real aukaat! ?
#Just Wait
#Puny Star Fans
At the mysore theater and Mumbai theatre people’s opinion are really interesting ….kaabil can change hrithik standing..he can bounce back or deep into big whole …. his movie choices and not working for years take him to the end …meanwhile we have new generation who can dance like hrithik ,good looking with good movie plus Salman khan came up to this level ….all changed for hrithik ..have to be more smart or else ready to direct or produce movies. …….he was on top …he can be top ….but it is big task now …..
Shiway winner and good…bt we have all seen the result..so trailer response is only for first day bt the wom is needed in long run.sometimes the good trailer also backfires as in case of shivaay bcz the main product has to be matched up as trailer atleast.
Raees brilliant trailer… If Sulthan and Dangal is rated 8 Then Raees should be 9/10….
A well packaged trailer for mass and class… Buzz is too high now… Hope it will continue the buzz with Songs and promos…
Flop
Hrithik movie trailer use to get more views than any other star …his kites movie was on tremendous hype and people were Googled kits for that whole year …but now a days his stardom is not there ….that’s truth ..as a hrithik fan I’m so disappointed but it is what it is ..good luck hrithik
outstanding king khan