Answers from the just-concluded ‘Live Question and Answer’ session. We answered 15 questions from our readers. This new page was created to have a fresh discussion in the comments section.
Q. List of highest grossing bollywood movies in overseas markets - Farhan Haider
A. PK is the highest overseas grosser. It has crossed the 300 crore mark ($47 million) at the overseas box office alone. The only film to collect 300 crore (net) in India and overseas. The other major grossers are Dhoom 3 ($31 million), 3 Idiots ($26 million), My Name Is Khan ($23.5 million) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan ($21 million).
Q. Will the clash between Raees and Sultan happen? If not which film is most likely to come on Eid? – Rock
A. For now, both Yash Raj Films and Excel Entertainment have confirmed that both Sultan and Raees are scheduled to release during Eid 2016. It will depend on the makers of both films. There could be delays in shoot of Sultan, which could result in the film being postponed. Raees could be postponed too. Salman is at the peak of his stardom and the audience do come out in big numbers during Eid to watch his films. So both Excel and YRF have to sit together and work things out. If the clash happens and both films are liked, both will do well. If not, the better film will flourish and the weaker one will perish. However, a clash of two massive films featuring two of the biggest superstars, won’t be beneficial to anyone except websites like Indicine.
Q. Who is the biggest superstar of the country today? – Vipul Sudan
A. Salman Khan. There is no arguing over this at this point in time. Undisputed No 1 in India and challenging SRK and Aamir in the overseas markets too.
Q. What is the prediction of Brothers and it’s buzz? – Sachin Jha
A. Akshay and Sidharth have started promoting the film, so the buzz will increase in the next few days leading upto its release. Three dialogue promos of Brothers was released last night, two of them highlighted the ‘family’ and ’emotional’ angle in the film. That should help attract the family audience, because they don’t really like watching intense action and blood.
Q. Any chance for BB to beat PK. How is it holding up today (3rd Sat) – Miz
A. It has picked up today, occupancy for morning, noon and evening shows was higher than yesterday. Beating PK will be difficult now. Release of a film like Drishyam and lack of an extra week, as compared to PK, has sealed the fate of the clash. Unless there is a miraculous growth today and tomorrow, PK will remain the highest grosser. Also, Drishyam is carrying positive word-of-mouth, so business of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is certain to be affected.
Q. Who is the actor that is consistent in his whole career? – Aniel
A. We have answered this question several times before. It’s Shah Rukh Khan. To give you an example, he’s not doing too badly currently, but is still considered to be going through some sort of bad phase. In the last 5 years, none of his films have fallen short of the 200 crore mark worldwide. Even though Salman and Aamir are way ahead in terms of blockbusters and all time grossers in the last 5 years, it’s not a record that even they can boast of. Note: Both Jai Ho and Talaash didn’t cross 200 crore worldwide. Also note that they didn’t release during the festive period.
Q. Who are the three stars who can deliver 300 Cr movies in India – Ashok
A. Great question. The three stars are Eid, Diwali and Christmas. Plus content.
Q. According to your site, a mystery thriller like Talaash which was released in 2012 earned Rs 14.52 crore (first day collection).
Screen count:2500. Now Drishyam which belongs to the same genre (thriller) has earned Rs 6 crore according to you. Screen count:2350. And ticket price is obviously higher than Talaash as Talaash was released in 2012.. Now my question is..is this the genre due to which such movies cannot make huge money on its first day? Some haters were saying that Mr. Perfectionist has no stardom and Rs 14.52 cr is very low – Jazick
A. Aamir Khan is one of the biggest and by far the most respected superstar in the industry. Period. There are a lot of people we know, who do not watch Hindi movies, but only watch Aamir Khan films. When Aamir does a film, it’s expected to be nothing less than a masterpiece. He has carried that burden of delivering a classic each and every time for more than a decade and has incredibly successful. He has been intelligent too. If he does too many off-beat movies like Talaash, he will lose out on his fanbase. So he does one not-so-commercial film like Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Talaash or the upcoming Dangal and then follows it up with an out-and-out commercial entertainer. Each time he comes on screen, he gives you something different. People come out in big numbers to watch every Aamir Khan film. If this isn’t stardom, fan-following and respect towards his acting and movies, then what is?
Q. Akshay Kumar or Ajay Devgn, who’s the bigger star today? – Babaji Ka Thullu
A. Akshay Kumar. Trade knows it, everyone knows it. Because with an Ajay Devgn film a decent / good opening isn’t guaranteed. A 6 crore opening including paid previews for Drishyam is way below the mark. Irrespective of genre and competition, it should have taken a better opening.
Q. Is Kabir khan doing a film with Hrithik and Katrina? Or it is just another rumour? – Rahul
A. Kabir Khan always wanted to direct Hrithik. He has confirmed that they are discussing a script, which could be made into a film. During Bajrangi Bhaijaan promotional period, Kabir told us that he plans to take a break after the release of Phantom and then decide which film to do.
Q. Wazir and Hera Pheri 3 will release in December or not? – Saptarshi
A. Wazir is confirmed for theatrical release on 4th December. Stars Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar. Directed by Bejoy Nambiar. Hera Pheri 3 won’t release in December.
Q. Please create a list of 2015 movies on basis of word-of-mouth. Prashanth Yadav
A. It’s difficult to rank films based on word-of-mouth. Tanu Weds Manu Returns showed better trends than Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but that was only because TWMR didn’t feature a male superstar. It relied on word-of-mouth. Bajrangi Bhaijaan had a superstar plus word-of-mouth, so it took a huge opening and then sustained well. These two films, along with Piku, are the best word-of-mouth films of 2015.
Q. Which is the best film of Saif Ali Khan both comercially and critically. – Luv
A. Omkara is his most critically acclaimed performance and film. Unfortunately, it didn’t do too well at the box office. Kal Ho Na Ho is probably his most acclaimed film, both critically and commercially. Solo films, it would be Love Aaj Kal and Hum Tum.
Q. List of Akshay Kumar’s 100 crore worldwide grossers?
A. Quite of few Akshay Kumar movies have ‘grossed’ 100 crore worldwide. Singh Is King, Housefull, Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Holiday, Baby, Gabbar Is Back, Tees Maar Khan, Special 26, Entertainment, OMG! Oh My God. I hope we haven’t missed any. It doesn’t take much to gross 100 crore worldwide. Even with 65 crore net collections from India and a bit of contribution from overseas, films do over 100 crore worldwide. 200 crore worldwide is what a film from a superstar should do. Only one film has crossed 200 cr worldwide for Akshay and that’s Rowdy Rathore.
Q. Who will beat PK’s lifetime collection? Aamir, Salman or Shahrukh? – True Actor
A. Even with extraordinary word-of-mouth and two open weeks, Bajrangi Bhaijaan is likely to fall short of PK. So it would take a lot more than Aamir, Salman and Shahrukh to break PK’s record. Apart from featuring a big name, a film has to receive universal acclaim, has to have a favourable genre and ideally 3 open weeks at the box office. Even one extra holiday in between will make a big difference to the overall total. If there is a clash between two films, like Dilwale vs Bajirao Mastani or Raees vs Sultan, absolutely no chance for both films. Maybe in 2-3 years time, when there are more screens across India and higher ticket prices, it would be easier. But by then, Rajkumar Hirani will be ready with his next film.
Q. Is the news Hrithik and deepika doing a Yash raj film Thug… true? – Rumii
A. From reliable sources: Hrithik is yet to sign the film.
@The phenom , u can say & think whatever u can but srk’s so called consistency is as highly over rated & as disputed the man’s popularity & success, period!
what are the adjusted overseas collections of my name is khan and 3 idiots in crores?
pk ovearseas colection 289cr not 300cr ok
@NVS sorry I don’t completely agree with you on your statement that “aamir was slowest to attend superstardom.” What do you mean by that? Aamir also started his solo debut as superhit unlike srk’s multistarrer debut which was only hit. And aamir gave highest grosser of the year right 2 years after his debut but srk gave highets grosser of the year 3 years after his debut. So srk was the slowest khan. Aamir took many risks back in 1990s and path breaking films and very less commercial films and he didn’t work with big banners like YRF, Dharma and Rajashree so that was also a part of the reason why he had less blockbusters than Salman and srk. But still RH was the 3rd highest grosser of all time as well as the decade after HAHK and DDLJ without YRF banner or Rajashree banner. And still aftrrwords he took risks with films like ghulam, sarfarosh, earth, DCH, Lagaan kind of films which were not so commercial. So that’s unfair to say that he was not consistent. But now he is consistently on top since 2008 and undisputed Bo office king whenever he works in commercial movies, they break each and every records left right and center. So I would say aamir is the most consistent superstar critically and commercially.
@NVS : Great comments bro. Very well said !!
@Phenom : Why do Srk fans always think they make the world voice? World’s or India’s population doesnt contain only srk fans How can and what basis are you saying No one can dispute Srk consistency or give a damn about NVS factful comment ?? Just look at the dislikes you got for your comment n likes NVS got for his comment. This is only on Indicine, so you can imagine what fans all over India thinks. Srk too had failures just check how many flops he had in same year as DDLJ released even with a Multi starrer movie like Trimurti flopped. Salman & Aamir too had failures n they were inconsistent too !!!!!!!!
@ hrithik :
SRK might have given few flops between 1994-1998 . But look at the no. of Hits he has given . In almost each and every year , he has a Hit ! Bhai’s bad phase lasted for the entire 2000s and Aamir bad phase lasted for entire 1990s . Think about that . There’s no denying the fact that Aamir and Sallu are ahead of SRK in no. of big hits , at the same time , there should not be any dispute that SRK never had anything called ‘bad phase’ !
P.S. Better don’t talk about likes and dislikes on Indicine , because Salman fans have most of the times failed to make Sallu win any poll here, despite begging to Aamir fans !!!
@Rew1 , bro what I meant was that aamir took the longest time among the khan trio to give his 1st solo ATBB/BB, 8 years after his debut with RH , srk took 3 years for his 1st solo ATBB/BB while salman made his debut with an ATBB itself , it was on the basis of giving their 1st solo BBs/ATBBs since their debuts that I rated their superstardom but u r not wrong either, since aamir gave the highest grosser of the year ahead of srk we can say that aamir achieved stardom earlier than srk and also agree with u that aamir took more risks than both salman & srk in his early days and that is precisely the reason why his movies were not as commercially successful as the other khans movies.
It is somewhat surprising that the great aamir took 8 long years to give his 1st ATBB/BB (considering the fact that he currently owns the record for the superstar with most number of ATBBs in Bollywood history ) and yeah he is definitely the most consistent superstar among the khan trio to have a combination of critical & commercial successes.
@hrithik , thanks bro..
Salman-Akshay
Aamir-Ajay
SRK-Hrithik
i am only watch these stars’s movie because these 6 are the True Superstar of our nation.
@Phenom : You are asking us to remember Srk Hit’s streak whereas Salman / Aamir have been consistent in BB/ATBBs you cant see that ?? My only point is when SRK was numero uno star and ruling he never enjoyed the kind of success Salman and Aamir are enjoying now ?? Srk may be consistent in number of Hits (that too only post 2005) before that he had at least one Flop per average of 3 years though it was not as worst as Salman phase but still you cant call it as consistent. check his filmography of 1994 , 1995 (Except DDLJ) & 1996 you will find loads full of flop movies which he gave !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bhai, consistency is counted for all not only for Hits, if you are considering then consider for everything including BB/ATBBS but you count only flops consistency of Aamir/Salman and Hits consistency of SRK. What I should I call this ??
@Indicine : SRK has done every genres movies in last 5 years unlike Sallu.. Romantic (JTHJ) Action Thriller (Don 2) Sci-Fi (Ra.One) Masala Comedy (CE) etc and has got success in every genres unlike so called Bhaijaan who did same genres movies, Masala, masala, masala, masala and gave headache to countless people, damaged bollywood through it and did once a different genre movie (Veer) but became all time industry disaster, so how is the biggest star? even in the same masala genre he failed several times in last 5 years to give 200 cr grosser films as the only way he can give hits in different genre is a ‘hit and run’ genre where no one can match him at all while Shah Rukh Khan never failed despite of doing different kind of films of different genres. SRK is the BIGGEST BOLLYWOOD STAR in Every Genre while Salman is the loser/disaster/flop of all genres except south crappy remakes & 2002’s hit and run genre.
@Indicine : SRK has done every genres movies in last 5 years unlike Sallu.. Romantic (JTHJ) Action Thriller (Don 2) Sci-Fi (Ra.One) Masala Comedy (CE) etc and has got success in every genres unlike so called Bhaijaan who did same genres movies, Masala, masala, masala, masala and gave headache to countless people, damaged bollywood through it and did once a different genre movie (Veer) but became all time industry disaster, so how is the biggest star? even in the same masala genre he failed several times in last 5 years to give 200 cr grosser films as the only way he can give hits in different genre is a ‘hit and run’ genre where no one can match him at all while Shah Rukh Khan never failed despite of doing different kind of films of different genres. SRK is the BIGGEST BOLLYWOOD STAR in Every Genre while Salman is the loser/disaster/flop of all genres except south crappy remakes & 2002’s hit and run genre!
@Phenomenal fool, oh come on lungians, grow up. When was queen consistent. His last disaster Ratoon.One is only 3 years back. Don’t forget that. After that Con 2 also was semi hit. Billu also was flop. So he gave only 4 consecutive hits from Con 1(Big B’s remake ruined by overacting) to RNBDJ. Only 4 clean hits in a row. What a shame. So don’t ignore Billy and Ra.One which were flops and disasters.
@Aman keep joking. Con 2 was semi hit. Ra.one was disaster. Billu also was flop. JTHJ was only manipulated as hit. Only CE which is masala genre was his one and only Blockbuster. And don’t forget MNIK also was semi hit. Sarookh manipulates not only BO collections but also his flop movies’ verdicts and even if they are flop, semi hit, he still manipulates the verdicts and claims as hits. But every one knows that Ra.One was the biggest disaster of this decade. And torturous as well. Non of salman’s movie combined can reach the level of torture which Ra.one and Crappy Old Year gave. Con 2 also was worst overrated headache movie.
We always talk about actors being the crowd puller.
Dear Indicine, Can you please analyse who are the top 5 crowd puller directors in bollywood?
Rajkumar Hirani is no. 1 but not sure about 2-5 positions….!!!
Maybe Rohit Shetty, Karan Johar, SLB, Neeraj Pandey, Imtiaz Ali, Mohit Suri, Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhtar, Mahesh Bhatt…???
@ hirthik :
Check this
1992 : Salman four failures , SRK two failures
1993 : Salman one failure , SRK two failures
1994 : Salman two failures, SRK one failure
1995 : Salman one failure, SRK four failures
1996 : Salman two failures, SRK two failures
1997 : Salman one failure, SRK one failure
1998 : Salman one failure, SRK one failure
1999 : Salman two failures, SRK zero failures
Total failures of Salman = 13 (successes 10)
Total failures of SRK = 13 (successes 13)
Salman success % = 43 %
SRK success % = 50 %
Case closed !!!
P.S. Please don’t talk about 2000s , LOL !!!
sorry for counting mistake :
Salman 14 failures , SRK 13 failures
Salman success % = 41 %
SRK success % = 50 %