It’s been 2 years since one of India’s costliest films Ra One released in theatres, but the debate rages on to this day. Was Ra One a Hit or Flop? Don’t think that there has been a single day this question has not been asked by one of our many readers. Today, as the Shahrukh Khan – Kareena Kapoor starrer celebrates its 2nd anniversary, we hope to finally put an end to this debate once and for all.
Let’s start with the economics: The total investment on Ra One including print and advertising was Rs 135 crore. Eros International recovered a huge chunk of that investment when they sold the satellite and music rights of the film for Rs 40 crore. Since portions of the film were shot in United Kingdom, the UK government paid Rs 20 crore as subsidy (some trade analysts have quoted a figure of 25 crore). Home video rights must have fetched around 2 crore. The total non-theatrical revenue was approx Rs 62 crore.
Ra One Hit Or Flop?
Theatrical returns: The Hindi version of Ra One collected around 115 crore in India, regional dubbed versions collected 9 crore and total overseas business amounted to Rs 43 crore. The All-India distributors share including dubbed versions is 68 crore and overseas share is around 17 crore. In total, Eros recovered around 85 crore from theatrical business.
- Total Revenue – Rs 147 crore
- Total Investment – Rs 135 crore
- Total Profit – Rs 12 crore
When a film has actually made a decent profit, why did Shahrukh Khan himself say that it didn’t quite work as well as he expected it to. That is because, as a film Ra One was a complete failure, critics and audience thrashed it. For a film made on this scale and budget, it was expected to earn much more than it did. Also, a few individual distributors lost money, which isn’t usually the case for most SRK starrers. A few exhibitors who released the film on ‘fixed hire’ screens lost a bit of money. Ra One also under-performed in circuits like C.P and C.I and the distributor lost money. But all these losses put together isn’t big enough to call the film a ‘FLOP’.
In fact, Ra One did reasonably good business, the film’s total worldwide gross is around Rs 225 crore which is a huge figure even for films that release today. Only about 12 films have managed to collect 200 cr or more.
Like Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish 3 which releases next weekend, the risk that Shahrukh Khan took with Ra One was huge. The expectations were high, but the results were disappointing. But the very fact that a rejected film, recovered the investment that went into India’s most expensive film, is an achievement in itself. The film wasn’t a commercial failure, or even an above average grosser. Ra One was a HIT.
Note: SRK recovered a fair bit of money from all the record brand-tie up deals. We haven’t even taken that into consideration here.
@Awnish, get your facts right. Since when you are visting the comment section of this site? The fact is all other stars fans have crossed their limits of bashing srk in past and present.. Has any srk fan called hrithik as a “GAY”? But every srk hater calls him a gay.. So there is a limit of tolleration, and when the limit is crossed then some srkians get angry and they also start bashing others. The amount of bashing which srk and his fans got is far greater then any other star. Hrithik got nothing infront of srk as far as bashing is concerned. And for your kind information hrithik is my 2nd favourite star after srk. And as an srk fan i still found difficult to forget those days when some srk haters were bashing him by calling srk is the responsible for the death of legendary yash chopra sahab. Have you received such type of bashing ever? So stop blaming srk and his fans for every bad thing.
If a film just made 12 cr profit how can it be termed a hit ??? Many lost money ,if SRK recovered some money on product endorsement then what about his remuneration which is not included in the budget ????Ra One by no means is a hit.if Ra One is a hit ,then I guess no big film is a flop.For ordinary people Ra one was the most ambitious project of SRK and still it is the costliest film ever,so when considering the hype it should be termed a flop as many lost money(read distributors)
Ra1 economics
Budget 125 (after including promotion)
Recovery for producers (theatrical rights worldwide 77 cr+ Music 5cr+satellite 35cr+52cr tie-up total 170 cr) producers profits 45 cr
Now distributors
Recovery Indian share 65 cr
Overseas share 25 cr (overseas gross 52 cr)
Distributors profit is 13 cr.
movie is hit in India and superhit in overseas
Ra One was an Epic level of disaster.. shameless amatuer disgusting story.. with over the top and ridiculous acting by shah rukh khan. This movie was stupidity to a whole new level,which infact was overshadowed by subsequent salman releases but SRK is the king,he returned with ce..which is by far the most idiotic movie till date.. Way to go SRK..
BOI says landing cost of Ra.1 was 175.. Verdict is given by Theatrical Run and not brand tie ups, Satellite Rights, Music Rights or the cost it was sold for..
Ra.1 is a clear flop in India.
LOL hence proved Indicine = SRK fan site..
@kiaara, BOI also says raone is a hit in india.
As i expected that indicine will give any diplomatic reason for this issue. Some how i agree if ra1 collected equal to its investment of 135cr as its definitely a big total but when your movie is not able to just equal to its investment how can it be successful. There has never been any doubt that srk and producers made huge money but they all due to non theatrical business. Suddenly for indicine and intelligent srkians taking satellite rights,overseas collection and subsidies etc into account to make ra1 a hit. This is called biasness. Never the less ra1 will always remembered as a flop to audience mind. And some1 said here haters find reason to find a flop of srk, there is no need as all knows how big crap and poor movie was ra1. Peace.
wow indicine! ra.one is a hit??? really??? to be very honest and straight this is the worst article you have ever published. your justification for ra.one being a hit is utter crap. even srk fans are surprised to hear your verdict! please tell me honestly what were you thinking while publishing this article. it is here on indicine that you published an article some time ago that boxoffice verdicts are given solely on indian boxoffice collections and nothing else. and now you are contradicting your own statement! really, three cheers to indicine which has made a mockery of film information. and on top of it you dont even have shame to reply to the readers. dont make yourself a laughing stock. i am shocked and surprised at the same time. why dont you declare ra.one an all time blockbuster! if u have some shame and respect for your readers i hope you will reply. but i know you have nothing to say as you have been exposed big time.
Guys ra1 is hit because of huge collection at ticket window not budget vs profit. If u considered budget vs profit then rabne banadi Jodi should be atbb and gajini should be only flop. Rabne bana di Jodi made 50 cr for producers/disturber (yashraj) and gajini sold to studio 18 for 89cr including all right now see economics
Indian theatrical share 60 and overseas share 12 cr. if u considered only theatrical business then distributors studio 18 losses 12 cr. but every trade called it blockbuster despite losses only because huge theatrical business. Same goes to sing is king, and many more Y akshay fans calling k786, s26 Nd bla bla r hits. Let him cross 60 cr first then dream for hits
ra.1 is bigger hit thn ghajini,idiots,hahk and sholay….avatar,dark knight wat else? it happens only in indicine
Losers here complaining Ra.One is a flop I don’t know why it affects them whether distributors made money or not, I mean its been 2 years and I don’t see any distributor crying or compaining. But some lowlifes here who have nothing better to do in their life are complainging here. Go and get a partner or socialise outside, stop arguing over anything and everything. The fact of the matter is Ra.One is a hit, you can deny it in your puny little ignorant mind but its the truth. Stop arguing here and grow the hell up! I mean I’m not a Shahrukh fan and I don’t give a damn, the trade has called it a HIT then it is a HIT.
Stop writing revisionist history, Ra one was an average grosser at best in India. But considering the hype, it was a resounding flop!
SRK will do character role next. Abhishek is the leading man of HNY!
just one thing!!!guys, if u say ra.one is hit…why this so called srk cant make another movie with anubhav sinha???just show the guts dude. otherwise just **** off!!! he never repeats a movie with his flop directors..take the example of ashutosh gowariker(swades), priyadarshan( billu barber), amol palekar( paheli)…NOW TALK!!
@Indicine don’t care of the haters…their jealousy is shown here..their so called idols cannot do a movie like this in thier lifetime…they exist because of the same south copy paste crap……their brain is also like that…they are mindless
bodyguard 140,ra one 125 all version,ready 120 cr highgross movies of 2011 ready & bg bb bcoz low budget & ra1 hit only due to high budget
if ra.one was a hit, himmathwala and besharam are blockbusters. LOL
@indicine, i think you are aware that satellite rights, music rights or brand tie ups don’t have to do anything with a film being a flop or not. what’s matters is the theatrical run. overall share of ra.one might be around 90 cr. and production cost + promotions were around 140-150 cr.
and you have mentioned about total revenue as 147 cr. what about the share that goes to the exhibitors?
if ra one was a hit…then indicine can u plzz explain how talaash was a semi hit in india and superhit overseas…im sure budget of talaash was no where close to that of ra one and it never had universal appeal like ra one…
dabbang,ready,bodyguard,rowdy rathore,dabbang 2 blockbuster just bcoz low budjet…r they really called 2 b bb ? U know better after 3I its been change YJHD,CE,ETT blockbuster
100-110 semi hit 111-140 hit 141-175 superhit 175+ blockbuster
@aditya not only in Indicine….if you check any sites, it is given hit in India & Superhit in overseas….whethere it is boxoffice India,box office capsule,koimoi or any other sites
@indicine,
The music rights, satellite rights, subsidy etc., are not the verdict of the movie. These are business dealings that involves an element of risk by purchasers taken before the product hits the market. It is purely business and not verdict.
The verdict is something that comes after the release of the product, which in this case is the movie Ra,one which is only and can only be based on the box office collection of the movie, which was well below the budget.
Hence the verdit of the movie is a flop. That is the product failed.
Now, let us talk about the investors, who purchased the various rights. Well, if the movie was hit, then it should not make any losses to them. However, it did not happen, as the music and tv premiere did not generate much as the purchasers of rights thought, hence it was a failed investment, further proving the movie failed.
Also, since Indicne themselves doesn’t count international earnings as reason given by Indicine itself, how can it now go back on its words and count it?
So, in short, the movie is a flop product that was rejected by its target market segment.
Srk and his team must have got profits by unknown sources, which they claim, but it should also be noted that his own production team also claimed that the movie cost was 175 cr initially. There are many links that quotes their sources as produly stating that it is the costliest movie with around 175cr budget.
However, when the film dropped to 6cr collection, the first Monday, all those sources started singing a different tune altogether.
Just check all the articles in google during the period before and after the release of the movie.
Lastly, all said and done, srk may have just got some profits or managed to recover his investment, but Ra.one as a product failed in the market.
Anyways it is a long forgotten story, so, let us talk about the next super-hero movie Krrish3, and hope this time the producers and investors are very much aware of the consequences and risks.
failures are the stepping stones to success, and hope Krrish3 emulates what ra.one couldn’t.
Ra One was FLOP or BELOW AVERAGE in india because of its low profit only 12 crore
12 crore profit aur HIT…….. ye baat HAJAM nhi huyi…..
it was SUPERHIT in overseas
Ra One was FLOP according to critics ……..
but it was declared HIT because it was the movie of MOST OVERRATED SUPERSTAR —- SRK…….
@aditya, talaash production budget was 40 crs and was sold to reliance at the price of 90 crs.. So the price was high. But it didn’t collect even 100 crs after having a wide release of 2600 screens.. So it was a semi hit. If it would have collected around 100 crs then it would have been a clean hit even though it had a huge cost of 90 crs, as the budget do not affect the verdict much. It is the theatrical business which matters most.
Ra.One is a Flop film. All distributors lost big chunk of money. Only paid media says it is a Hit.
According to trade pundits, Ra.One is flop. Audiences rejected the film completely.
@To all haters who are saying that verdict is given only based on its theatrical recovery of the budget:- 1. Ghajini: budget= 89 crs, distributor share=59 crs, loss=30 crs, verdict=atbb, how it can be an atbb with a huge loss of 30 crs? It must be a flop. 2.Rajneeti- budget=60 crs, distributor share=48 crs, Loss=12 crs. Verdict- bb. How its a bb with a loss of 12 crs? 3. Welcome: budget=40 crs, distributor share=37 crs, loss=3 crs, verdict-bb.How its a bb with loss? 4. Krrish: budget=45 crs, distributor share=39 crs, loss=6 crs, verdict-bb. How it was bb when it didn’t recover its cost by theatrical business? 5. Housefull2: budget= 75 crs, distributor share=60 crs, loss=15 crs, verdict= superhit. How when it is losing 15 crs?
Only box office collections should be considered to declare a film’s fate. If you add all other revenues like Satelite rights, home video rights, music rights etc then 90 % of the releases are hits as most movies recover their costs through these rights. Ra one made on a budget of 135 crores plus made 115 crores at the box office of which most came in the 1st week which was Diwali week but crashed by over 80% in the second week . No way this film is a hit. A total flop. Indian critics please stop this SRK chamchagiri.
remotecontrol: Beta! I don’t have to think anything, all information is given above!! check and match it with my comments!! A film collecting 114 crore from Indian BO when the budget it over 135 core, can not be called Hit at all. This is beyond the definition of Hit and Flop. Get you fact corrected!!
If it was really a hit then why SRK is not ready to make a sequel…….. The reason is it crashed from the monday……….and was totally rejected by the odeans………and this subsidy and all is again ……….a crap news spread by SRK………HE him self has admited that it is a flop…….and will never make its sequel…………
dear indicine ye kya mazak hai. ra.one hit movie thi? kyu april fool bana rahe. is tarah ki bakwas article mat chaapo varna aapki credibility pe sab sawaal uthayenge. jo cheez flop thi wo flop hi rahegi. aur ek cheez main correct karna chahunga, ra.one ka budget 175crore tha, ye baat khud srk aur red chillies ne declare ki thi.