Aamir Khan’s box-office formula is BROKEN? Happy Patel, Ek Din, Batwara 1947 fail to fire; trade says, “He is not able to adjust to the post-Covid reality”
At one point, a film produced by Aamir Khan Productions meant not just a quality product but also a certain degree of commercial success, even when the subject was niche. Many years ago, a film like PEEPLI [Live] (2010), which had no known stars, managed to open at nearly Rs. 4 crores and went on to collect Rs. 30.41 crores in its lifetime. Aamir Khan’s involvement as a producer and the film’s strong marketing helped generate considerable awareness. Films like PEEPLI [Live] and Dhobi Ghat (2011) were marketed extensively, which helped bring audiences to cinemas. However, this year, Aamir Khan Productions has suffered back-to-back blows.
It began with Happy Patel Khatarnak Jasoos, which collected just Rs. 5.52 crores. Ek Din, starring Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi, fared even worse, earning a paltry Rs. 3.79 crores. And now, the big-budget Batwara 1947 has had a very poor run, sending shockwaves through the trade. Despite the presence of Sunny Deol in the lead and Rajkumar Santoshi as director, the film failed to open well and is now expected to end its theatrical run with lifetime earnings of less than Rs. 45 crores.
Trade veteran Taran Adarsh said, “I can understand a few films not doing well in the recent past. I have not watched all of them, but it was said that they were not well-made or not up to the mark. But in the case of Batwara 1947, it was a very ambitious film, with Sunny and Rajkumar Santoshi reuniting, that too for an Aamir Khan production. It can’t get bigger than this.”
He added, “For Aamir Khan, I am sure it’s a big setback emotionally as well as financially, especially when you invest so much time and money into making such an ambitious film. It’s not one of those low-cost or mid-range films that he has attempted in the recent past as a producer.”
Taran Adarsh further said, “At least on the first day, people should have been in cinemas. But here, not many people even stepped in. Except for the benefit it got on Independence Day, if you see the collections, they are very, very poor. The advance trends were not encouraging. Things can change with spot bookings, but even the spot bookings were shockingly low. I am sure it must have been disheartening for Aamir and the whole team.”
Suniel Wadhwa, co-founder and director at film production and distribution firm Karmic Films, observed, “Maybe the awareness is there among the people, but the desire to go and watch the film is missing. It happened with Loveyapa (2025) as well. Though it was not produced by Aamir Khan, it was a remake of Love Today (2022). Perhaps the audience had already seen that film. Similarly, Ek Din was also a remake of a Korean film that the audience may have already consumed.”
Vishek Chauhan, owner of Roopbani Cinema in Purnia, Bihar, minced no words as he thundered, “Aamir Khan is not able to adjust to the post-Covid reality. He still makes cinema according to his sensibility, which worked at one point in time, starting with Taare Zameen Par (2007). He feels that if he makes such films, he’ll get box office success even today. In the process, he may end up making a good film, but it’ll earn at most Rs. 150 crores or Rs. 175 crores. However, a business of Rs. 300 crores or Rs. 325 crores won’t be possible. This is because the public is tired of watching such content. For them, there’s nothing novel about watching this kind of cinema in a movie theatre right now.”
He added, “Maybe, five years down the line, if Aamir makes a film like Taare Zameen Par 2, it may become a blockbuster. But at present, you need to show films in cinemas that create FOMO. That will happen when viewers are presented with content that is not easily accessible to them. When content is readily available in their homes, why would they go to a cinema hall?”
He opined, “There was a syntax to Bollywood and a particular way of executing stories for the last 15 years, and it was completely inspired by Aamir Khan’s style of cinema. It appealed to multiplex audiences in metros and the Gold Class audience. Filmmakers did an overkill by making a plethora of such content. Marvel also went through it. It released a lot of content in cinemas as well as on OTT. Consequently, a film like The Marvels (2023) was a disaster. This was because the novelty value vanished.”
Vishek continued, “Look at Yash Chopra. He made films like Dhool Ka Phool (1959) and Daag (1973), and then also made a film like Dil To Pagal Hai (1997). If you showed these three films to a person, he or she wouldn’t be able to believe that all three movies were made by the same filmmaker. In between, he also made Deewaar (1975), Darr (1993), etc. Yash ji could read the market and the mood of the public. Aamir Khan should take a leaf out of his book.”
He signed off by stating, “If you are a commercial actor and a commercial filmmaker, you have to respect the box office. The box office and stock market are like the ocean. You can’t fight them. Fighting the box office and fighting the stock market is like fighting against nature.”
Also Read: Aamir Khan begins major weight-loss transformation for Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lalkaara
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