When India is busy switching news channels observing the clout of Gujarat’s Chief Minister’s Sadbhavna Mission, there’s a man in a parallel world who looks all set to gift the Indian Film industry a movie which will redefine success for any film ever made in India. Be it Twitter, Facebook or even the almost forgotten Orkut, there are people everywhere who are confident that post Ra-one, Mr. SRK’s career will head downhill the Rajesh Khanna way. However, his ardent followers are keenly anticipating its release and desperately want this film to do well. Amidst all this, I am sitting in my office which is just 3 K.M away from Mr. Modi’s fasting venue making note of a point which surprisingly none of the trade guys are talking about at the moment. They may even be scared. What if things go wrong? A person in my position can certainly take some liberties and sometime off from my daily routine to let people know that the point of discussion amongst us should not be whether Ra-One will be a hit or flop, rather HOW BIG A HIT IT WILL BE? Why? Without wasting time, let me first let be known that I am no fan of Mr. SRK. In fact, the one man I have admired since I was a 11 year old is Mr.SK (Those who know me must have an idea of whom I am speaking about). Even then, I really want this movie to work because I know that if the bars are not raised then the joy of the regular tiffs between SRK and SK fans will cease to exist. This will make my life sad. I have grown up reading and participating is these SRK v/s SK debates. My life will just not be the same if that stops. Secondly, it is this competition that has made the Indian Film industry realize its true potential. Who would have thought 2 years ago that a movie could touch the Rs.100 Cr NETT mark in 10 days flat? Trust me my dear readers, it happened because people like you and me kept fighting for our honour to ensure that our heroes get nothing less than the best, thus we kept visiting cinema halls with a vengeance. Our stars benefitted, we gushed with pride and in return they started working on bigger and better films. Now, cutting the small talk and coming to the point -
- Enough ammunition left in SRK’s kitty: Okay. So Chammak Challo and Dildaara didn’t dazzle you. No problem! There’s a lot more left from where that came from! The music is out and by the looks of it, the audio seems very intriguing – couple that with the video and imagine the magic unfold! The angle of son for kids. A characterization which caters to the South Indian audience. The South has not been a major market for Hindi films so far, but looking at the density of screens available over there –it’s an aspect this movie looks all set to explore with its Tamil -Telugu version releasing simultaneously and Thalaiva (Mr.Rajnikanth) making a guest appearance (remember his fans will do anything to get one glimpse of him since it has been a year since his Endhiran released). Expect some real heavy business coming from down south which hasn’t contributed much (5% - 7% max) to the film business of a Hindi movie till date.
2. BIGGER THE VILLIAN BIGGER THE FILM: Wait until Dusshera when the look of Ra-One is revealed. There’s a lot of curiosity around Mr. Rampal’s look and we should not forget that movies name is not G-One, it’s Ra-One. Expect the unexpected. If Mr.SD’s Kanacha look in Agneepath was talk of the town, then this look will give you jitters. After all, we so love it when our protagonist kills the villain at the end of the show. The bigger the villain, the bigger is the anxiety. Remember Shakkal, Mogambo and Gabbar? To add more fuel to the fire, don’t forget the lines in the teaser MAIN EK AISA GAME BANAUNGA JISMEIN VILLAIN KABHI NAHIN MAREGA (SRK’s lines). And the suspense begins! How will he die then?
3.Remember it is SRK: When was the last time he went wrong in choosing a script? I mean something which was out rightly rejected? Some might say My Name is Khan! I will not accept that as an answer even though it didn’t cross Rs.75 Crore Nett in India given the fact that Mr. Devgn and Mr. SK scored a century that same year, since it wasn’t targeted at the masses. If I say it wasn’t meant for the classes then its collections in the overseas markets speak for themselves. Remember it did $21 million business which is 20% higher than the 3-Idiots collections in the overseas market.
4. It’s 3-D? That means 3 digit ticket charges be it any show anywhere.
Did you know? If you compare the footfalls in cinema halls, then Dabangg saw a 25% lead over 3-Idiots in its first weekend but on final tally (Box Office figures) it ended with just a 5% lead in its first week? Reason?
1. Tickets rates -which were hiked considerably for 3-Idiots. I remember I ended up paying Rs.300 for watching 3-Idiots in a multiplex in Mumbai whereas the maximum I had ever paid for a movie before then was Rs.220.
2. 3-Idiots earned maximum share of its money from multiplexes, but in Dabangg’s case, it was single screens which didn’t show any drop in sales after 3 days and kept raking in the moolah for its producers. On the other hand, the ticket prices at single theatres are much lower than the multiplexes (Okay! Please don’t you dare go into the details of theater rentals and its effect on distributor share! My calculations are in place.)
Conclusion: Ra-One will have both multiplexes and single screen theaters.
5.SRK fans have waited 500+ days to watch him on the big screen.
If WANTED could fetch a stupendous opening (SUSTAINED) because of a 300 day gap for an SK silver screen appearance, Munni, an impressive first trailer, Sonakshi Sinha and good music then SRK has a 450+ day gap, Chammak Challo, super first look, Kareena Kapoor ( who will be eyeing her 4th 100 Cr+ film and second 200 Cr+ film) and of course mesmerizing renditions by Vishal and Shekhar. There’s no way people aren’t going to throng to the theaters. So what happens when the excitement is high? Read the next point.
6.A Bigger Release:
Now here comes the most important point. Probably before Bodyguard, SRK would have been eyeing Rs. 20 Cr on the first day. Now that Bodyguard has crossed that mark by earning Rs.21 Cr + on Day 1, don’t expect Ra-one to settle for anything less than Rs.25 Cr. Those who doubt it, did you believe me when I said Bodyguard might cross Rs. 20 Cr on Day 1? When all the trade guys were expecting it to settle between Rs.14-Rs.16 Cr, people proved them wrong by crossing that figure even before the late night shows commenced.
If Reliance released Bodyguard in 2000-2200 screens then believe me when I say that SRK will be eyeing for 2500-3000 screens. The idea is that no one gets disappointed, nobody goes back home without watching Ra-One if one has dared to reach the box office counter of the cinema hall. An hour or two hour wait should do it! The problem with such a massive release is the fall you witness later on the weekdays, but do we really need to bother?
The bigger the release, bigger the day 1 potential and better the collections. Now, the only thing which could screw things up is the content. If it’s good, people might watch it twice or thrice and ensure that Ra-One starts its journey towards the Rs.250 Cr mark. As I said earlier, take it for granted that SRK will never go wrong with the content. None of the Khan triumvirate in last two and half years have gone wrong with content. All three of them are aware of what they are getting into and what their audience wants from of them.
7.Chammak Challo:
This one is probably for the ones from the interiors. Sure Munni was more rustic, but Kareena as Chammak Challo in a red hot sari sure gets there, if not outshines Dabangg’s Munni. Go talk to a villager and he will tell you that his dream girl is not a size zero but a woman with a healthy glow and some meat on her bones! Kareena as Chammak Challo does exactly that. Though it isn’t a song which villagers can sing, but they definitely know how to dance to Akon’s rendition.
8.Right timing -No competition for 9+ days: Now this is something serious.
The movie releases on 26th October, a Wednesday. It is the same set up which Bodyguard had and with several open weeks till 25th November with the only major threat being Rockstar releasing on 11th November, Ra-one finds itself in almost the same setup as that of 3-Idiots. Sustaining the rhythm even after the first week will not be tough since it has the benefit of the 3-D format. Remember this will be the biggest 3-D extravaganza coming out of India. There will be many who will be experiencing it for the first time. (Yes, inspite of Haunted being a hit, it had a limited audience and even though Avatar was the biggest extravaganza ever in the history of cinema, it was seen by only select classes in India.)
9.The Guilty Pleasures: Hate it or love it, you’re gonna watch it! Even SK haters saw Dabangg because of what we call guilty pleasures. Even though you fought with your padosi, when he called you for a party, you went, you ate, you liked the food and the party and you will never admit it. It’s the same story here. I remember many people went to see Don just to compare SRK’s performance with BIG B’s so that they could criticize it. However, the actual result was that they helped DON cross the 50 Cr mark in 2006. In Ra-one’s case, many might visit the theatre with a negative mindset, probably just to look for things to criticize, and end up liking it but will never admit it. Still, in the process they will forget that they will be contributing to Rs.250 Cr targeted figure of Ra-One.
~~Long Live Shahrukh Khan
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