A lot was expected from the big Christmas releases, Dunki, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Salaar, starring Prabhas. Also, while Dunki was directed by Rajkumar Hirani, Salaar was helmed by Prashanth Neel of KGF fame. These filmmakers have a separate fan base. As a result, the hopes were immense. While the films did well, a lot more was expected from them. We spoke to the trade about their performance at the ticket window.
Trade analyst Atul Mohan said, “People expected more from Dunki as it was directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Also, Shah Rukh Khan’s dream run was going on.” He added, “The plot was superb. Unusually such films show characters struggling to reach foreign shares. But in this film, unko Dunki maarke wapis aana pad raha hai. This was quite fresh. With a plot like this, that too coming from Rajkumar Hirani, anybody would jump at it.”
Girish Johar, producer and film business analyst opined, “Dunki, in my opinion, is a fantastic movie. It is message-oriented and has a lot of soul. The film has to be watched with a heart and not with conventional logic. The mood of the nation was action-oriented. That could be the reason (why it underperformed). Also, the promotions could have been a little better. They underplayed the film, relying a bit too much on word of mouth.”
He also said, “Salaar affected the film more. If Salaar had not released, Dunki would have collected Rs. 30 crores more and would have had first-week collections of Rs. 180 crores.” Dunki collected Rs. 149.77 crores in its first week.
Atul Mohan further explained, “The jokes didn’t land well. But the big problem was that people had too many expectations. People went for a film like Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, for example, without much hope. And it worked. But with Dunki, people expected the moon. It’s not like it has faced outright rejection. Moviegoers don’t mind the film but they come out of the theatre and say, ‘Thoda aur accha ho sakta tha’.”
When asked how much the film will collect in its lifetime, Raj Bansal, the owner of Entertainment Paradise in Jaipur predicted, “Dunki will collect Rs. 220-225 crores in its lifetime. It’ll definitely cross the Rs. 200 crore mark. It doesn’t have strong competition until Republic Day when Fighter releases. Also, on New Year, people will want to watch light, masti waali film.”
Atul Mohan and Girish Johar also agreed and felt that Merry Christmas, starring Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif and which releases on January 12, is not a strong competition. Dunki, along with Salaar, has a clean run for a month, as a result. Girish said, “Dunki has a couple of weeks more to score. I hope it picks up over the second weekend. Rs. 200 crores plus is a given. Anything above Rs. 225 crores will be a bonus.”
Salaar collected Rs. 87.75 crores in week 1 and experts feel that it’ll cross the Rs. 135.04 crore collections of Prabhas’ previous film, Adipurush. Raj Bansal stated, “Salaar will 100% collect more than Adipurush’s Hindi collections.”
Girish Johar explained why it didn’t perform up to the mark, “Marvel superhero fatigue has set in. A similar scenario might emerge with these action films. Throughout Salaar, the tempo is so high that you are always alert while watching it. You are not consuming or feeling the film. Action, obviously, is praiseworthy. But the audience is saying ‘Ab ho gaya yeh sab. Thoda dil bhi chhu ke jaao’. Thankfully, the twist in the climax worked. Or else, the film would have fallen flat.”
Calling the fight scenes as ‘tappa action’, Girish complained, “How many times you’ll see heroes attacking baddies with such force that they bounce and fall? If you see the film from a particular point of view, it just has slow-motion action. Nothing else.”
As for the lifetime, he said, “The response is muted and not as big as was expected from the makers of KGF - Chapter 2 (2022). Rs. 90 crores toh ho hi gaya hai. Rs. 135 crores toh ho hi jaayega.”
Atul Mohan exulted, “Rs. 125 crores would be the best case scenario for Salaar. After delivering a film like KGF - Chapter 2, agar aap Rs. 125 crores mein nipat jaate ho, toh phir kya faayda?”
Film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi made his displeasure clear over the fight that erupted over the sharing of screens between the two films, “What happened last week was not business. It was ugly and uncalled for and showed our industry in a really bad light. It only led to a lose-lose situation. It hampered the business of both films. It’s not like one benefited over the other. Both lost out on the business because the advance just didn’t open on time beyond the national chains till the day of release. A lot of business, which could have happened due to these advance ticket sales, didn’t happen. I hope that we can leave aside our squabbles and egos and try to think a little more holistically and sensibly. Here, we literally witnessed a scenario where two production houses and distributors, who were at each other’s neck, ensured that hundreds of distributors all over the country, faced financial losses. That’s not healthy. I really hope we can be a little more sensible and mature in the year ahead so that such scenarios are handled with some dignity and grace.”
He signed off by saying, “I am not talking about these movies in particular. But movies that have hype and not-so-great content can benefit from advances opening up early and having a certain amount of sales. God forbid the advance don’t happen until release day and the content is not up to the mark, you miss out on a chunk of business that could have happened.”
