Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon is the biggest disaster so far this year and one of the biggest loss-making films the industry has ever seen. It joins the list of mega-disasters like Fitoor and Mirzya – films that had landing costs in excess of 60 crore, but failed to even recover release and marketing expenses from theatrical business.
Bombay Velvet is probably the only film that had landing costs in excess of 100 crore and finished with a dismal domestic distributor’s share of less than 12 crore. The share of Rangoon will be around 20% lower than Bombay Velvet.
These are shocking numbers for a film that features arguably three of the most talented actors, under a director who is known to extract the best out of them. It’s also a black mark on a producer like Sajid Nadiadwala, whose sensibilities are different, yet he decided to produce a film like Rangoon. His track-record is consistent, one of the best for a individual producer, but Rangoon is the biggest disaster of his career as producer. Even though he made a clean-profit by selling the rights of Rangoon to Viacom, it’s difficult to understand the decision behind him taking on a project like this to produce.
For Viacom18, it’s films like these that can make irrecoverable damage. They will suffer losses of around 50 crore, which could’ve been used to fund better and more commercial films. For example, ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ and ‘Half Girlfriend’ can be squeezed into the budget that Rangoon was made on.
It’s precious money that the industry is losing, because 5-6 major flops combined do not suffer the kind of losses that a film like Rangoon has. This would put tremendous pressure on a big-budget film like ‘Padmavati’.
Rangoon is also a reality check for Kangana Ranaut, who demands 10-12 crore for a film, but does not deserve even 25% of that. She has also been constantly making comparisons between herself and the Khans, who have dominated the industry for 3 decades. Tanu Weds Manu Returns aside, she’s had mega-failures like Katti Batti, I Love NY, Revolver Rani etc. When her films have failed, they’ve failed big. It’s about a good director, good storyline along with her acting-skills that made Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Queen big hits. It’s not her stardom, but content and the low budget of those films that made them successful at the box office.
Check out the day-wise collections of Rangoon
- Friday – 4.9 crore
- Saturday – 4.75 crore
- Sunday – 4.25 crore (approx)
- Total - 13.95 crore
Note: The figures are our estimates, the producers have stopped giving out numbers.
Why always blame the female? Why not Shahid? At least Kangana has a recent blockbuster. But why is Shahid asking for 10cr fees. This indistry always rushed to blame the women while the incompetent men get away and fail upwards.
It is happening for the first time for any movie tat producers have stopped giving collections within first week itself….langooon impact on kangana will be so huge tat she may take retirement now…..this is wt happens when a person becomes way more arrogant ..
ONE OF THE BEST ARTICLE FROM INDICINE..
KUDDOS TO THE WRITER.
IT STARTED FROM PRODUCERS TO DISTRIBUTORS TO ACTORS TO DIRECTOR.. NICE
THE BEST LINE WAS..
“RANGOON IS REALITY CHECK FOR KANGANA”
it’s disgusting to bash actor like Kangana Ranaut who is the recipient of National Award. Do u people have personal grudge against her? what did she do wrong even if she demands high? that’s none of your business. Movie fails, hard time comes, but dunt forget Kangana was praised among others here.should you better communicate a non biasaed news n reviews , not your personal distress. Shameful article.
Kangana life can be described in two phases now..pre megadisastrous pangooon and post megadisastrous pangooon.. Now kanganas mind her eyes her ears her heart will always remember pangooooon 4 the rest of her life …see kangana u will now have only such kind of epic disasters in future….
Now where is shahid fans ? ? I think they hide somewhere after Mega disaster of Rangoon ?
Now it is clear tat black magician kangana was creating disastrous environment for pangooon in the likes of her previous disasters like revolver rani ,katti batti and queen.but seriously these three films are blockbusters in front of pangooon….r.I.p kangana ranaut…
Sorry, but I find that last paragraph extremely sexist. Male actors even when giving back to back flops still demanded 10-12 crore per film, so why can’t Kangana? She’s a fantastic actress (as are these men), so I find nothing wrong in what they are charging. Like you said, a good director and strong content along with her acting skills that made Queen and TWMR box office hits. She’s clearly delivered in terms of her performance in Rangoon, maybe something else fell short? About the Khans, all she said is that she isn’t dying to work with them. She likes strong roles, Khan films unfortunately don’t have that. Women in Khan films have short, glam roles. Kangana is better then that. Also, I’ve noticed you guys have been saying films like Haider, UP, Rangoon (basically any risky, experimental film) should not be made and only commercial films should be made. Y’all do realize, that an experiment is just that – a risk. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But to say everyone should stick to one formula would be disastrous. If every film were the same, that would get pretty boring pretty quick, no? Films would start flopping then too. I understand the film industry is a business, but it’s also an art. One should not discourage another from making films they believe in. I recall you said critics are ruining Shahid’s career and the industry, well when Shahid was doing back to back commercial films he was in the worst phase of his career. With Haider, UP, Rangoon, he’s being praised and is building a strong body of work which he can actually look at proudly in comparison to international cinema. If tomorrow he were to try his luck internationally, he would not use a film like R Rajkumar or Phata Poster as a reference. He’d use JWM, Kaminey, Haider, UP, Rangoon. I’ve been a follower of this site for 7-8 years now, but I’m extremely disappointed in this site recently. I expect better.
@indicine
Indicine BOI
Friday 4.9 crore 5.06 crore
Saturday – 4.75 crore 4.75 crore
Sunday – 4.25 crore 4.50 crore
Total – 13.95 crore 14.31 crore
Agreed Rangoon is a big disaster (was expecting it to be so) but u r putting numbers even lower than BOI. If you don’t have enough data, then go by Producers / BOI figures… Don’t food around…
atlest shahid doesnt cry in interview about his less pay den khans he knows where he stands unlike kangana
What she thinks about her self to compare with the Khan’s
She is fool.
@Yerfada till now Shahid is the inky one who is blamed for Rangoon’s failure go and check every critics even box office India he is getting the burnt of this failure no one talking about saif and the big mouth kangna whose stardom is only visisble only In his mouth and for ur in for Shahid didn’t get 10cr for Rangoon he got 3cr same as saif and 3cr is a price which he definitely deserves unlike kangna who got10cr ask indicine itself before talking nonsense and saying as if u know everything it was kangna who got 11cr so stop bringing feminism every time and all the time ti every matter and try to see the truth.
@Yerfada kangna even said that Rangoon is all about me it revolves around my character and taking digs at other actor unnecessarily.
@Indicine Why only Kangna what about Shahid
@Rohan, @Anonymous 2:31 pm, great comment fellas, completely agree with you two,there is no point in making the same so called “commercial” crap, they will flop too ex- dilwale,tevar, action Jackson etc. We have to bring something new and fresh. I guess there is a balance that needs to struck between art and commerce. The sooner the filmmakers and trade realize this the better
Kangana is fearless actress , talented actress but I don’t think she is arrogant . She is always do experimental films she is better actress than Deepika , Kareena .
Watched ‘The Ghazi Attack’ yesterday. 80% theatre was filled. Awesome movie & was different from usual movies…
So One need to do experiment but with brain….
@indicine… Can we have an article on ‘The Ghazi Attack’.
Thanks in advance
Stop putting “commercial” at front, right and centre of every article of yours.
Every movie has a life of its own.
NOT every movie should be made to cater to same emotions.
NOT every movie should be a “crowd-puller”.
What went wrong with Rangoon is execution and excessive flow of funds in unreasonable proportions. Economics is an integral part of cinema, a very significant part of its life.
BUT
and please consider
BUT Cinema is not what the money it makes.
Have been an ardent reader of your website. Moved here from much more gossip-oriented koimoi, santabanta and what-not.
Please, for the sake of an art form that touches humans and not pretentious-jerks, Please stop diluting your articles with such commentary.
You, or any Indian-Cinema lover doesn’t want to end up in a world where a Talvaar is impossible and all one sees are Kicks and Chennai Expresses.
In Hope,
Feel pity for saif n shahid. Happy for a big slap for big mouthed, self proclaimed superstar.
@Indicine Thank you for replying. I absolutely agree that economics are important. And that the taste of the audience should be catered to. But in a huge industry like ours, if you need to go the content and artistic way, why does it have to mean that you’re basically committing suicide most of the time ? Its because we are a star-driven industry. And its not about taste entirely. You make a film and shoot sex scenes tastefully in an artistic manner with minor stars like shahid and saif, it’ll fail like it has. But you shoot the adult content in a cheap manner, and you’ll have Mastizaade do 30 crore, which has become a task for Rangoon. I’m not against any sort of genre or business driven mindsets. I’m worried about the minds that report about our cinema, and whether they’re creating a perception in the audience’s mind that they wont get entertained by these movies and they’re deemed shitty even before release. I’m worried that our audience will get used to shelling their money out only for our 2 megastars and the rest will be left reeling in the mediocrity of our audience’s mentality.
@Rohan, the audience is smart enough to know which film to spend their money on. We’ve done articles before release and tweeted too that Rangoon was carrying absolutely no interest. The trailer itself sealed its fate. You have a world war setting, but all you give the audience is a love triangle. Just because a film has Vishal Bhardwaj as director, does not make a pointless film a classic. An off-beat film like Pink is working in today’s times, Queen and Barfi worked, Dangal became the highest grosser of all time.
It’s not like films with off-beat subjects or films that give the audience a different experience, aren’t working. They are. A Badlapur worked in 2015, but it worked because its budget was 27 crore. Directors like Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap have a very limited audience base and there is no Satellite value for their films either, so the cost-of-production of their films has to be in control. Bombay Velvet had to do 130 crore plus to recover costs, Rangoon had to do 100 crore plus. It’s impossible, waste of money and waste of time too because noone’s watching.
This producer Sajid Nadiadwala was accused of killing his first wife, dont know how far is it true? Anyone knows the truth here? Or was he simply being accused?
This producer Sajid Nadiadwala was accused of killing his first wife, dont know how far is it true? Anyone knows the truth here? Or was he simply being accused?
And that too, its said that he killed her to marry Tabbu. Quite Om shanti Om type story!!!!
Indicine aren’t saying don’t make movies like Rangoon that are targeted at a limited audience, they are saying get the economics right. You can’t spend so much money on these kind of movies cause it hurts the industry. You should make these kinds of movies but get the costing right. The majority of the Indian audience don’t like these type of movies which is true. It’s not that they shouldn’t be made but rather made with the correct budget.
@Tanveer, yes. And the debacle of Rangoon means, extra pressure on Bhansali and his team. The budget there could be reduce, which lead to some compromise somewhere. The marketing spend could be less. If Padmavati doesn’t work, Viacom18 might just quit like UTV Disney. More deserving films and filmmakers won’t get finance for their films, deserving talent who can entertain the audience will lose out on opportunities.
Industry is losing big money because of filmmakers like Bhardwaj. And the audience isn’t interested in their films either. Time for them to quit or get less ambitious and make small films.
Indicine you r right why producers are giving 12 cr to kagna ? She doesn’t deserve ……We know she is 2 time national award winner and we respect her ….She is Talented but she has ego problem……She always compare with deepika and khans which she doesn’t deserve…… And last but not least She is very arrogent and does not respect any one
‘Time for bharadwaj to quit’
I just recalled Omkara, haider, maqbool, kamine
No he shouldn’t quit, rather he should work on expanding his work to larger audience.
I believe that ANAND, LAGAAN, TZP were the most offbeat film but the treatment was such that these movies reached to a wider audience.
Bottom line is what is gain if a film as good as like hider isn’t watched by people who have seen HAMSHAKAL.
“@Rohan, the audience is smart enough to know which film to spend their money on. We’ve done articles before release and tweeted too that Rangoon was carrying absolutely no interest. The trailer itself sealed its fate. You have a world war setting, but all you give the audience is a love triangle. Just because a film has Vishal Bhardwaj as director, does not make a pointless film a classic. An off-beat film like Pink is working in today’s times, Queen and Barfi worked, Dangal became the highest grosser of all time.
It’s not like films with off-beat subjects or films that give the audience a different experience, aren’t working. They are. A Badlapur worked in 2015, but it worked because its budget was 27 crore. Directors like Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap have a very limited audience base and there is no Satellite value for their films either, so the cost-of-production of their films has to be in control. Bombay Velvet had to do 130 crore plus to recover costs, Rangoon had to do 100 crore plus. It’s impossible, waste of money and waste of time too because noone’s watching.”
Kudos Indicine for these words.
@Indicine
Earlier I used to visit Indicine but I wasn’t really a fan of yours but in last few days I have become your big fan. You are speaking truth without any fear. Keep it up. Best of luck!!
saying that movies like badrinath..& half girlfriend wud hv bn made in dat budget instead of investing in rangoon is a vry irresponsible statement to make by ur site..totally agree dat its business..it is thoughts like dis due to vch southern film industry is growing at a much faster n bigger way than bollywood..no1 in bollywood dares to step out of d typical rom-coms barring few exceptions..completely agree dat rangoon is a outright flop bt atleast dont gv such remarks of making more romcoms instead of experimenting wid stories being a responsible website..it is only showing ur negativity towards d movie..from a genuine follower
Very shameful. Even new debut actors movie like (Machine) looks to make 20 crore. Three stars who have been there for more then a decade collecting just 20 crores ? This can’t be just called disaster. This should be called All time big disaster.
Mohenjodaro collecting 60 crores inspite of big clash was called Disaster/flop. But now i feel Mohenjodaro deserved a better verdict considering the clash.