The Badshah of Bollywood has a habit of emerging as the victor in all battles and so this time when the B-Town Trade Analysts are labelling his new movie Dilwale as an "above-average" film, the critics have used every word in the dictionary to run-down the film and the Right-wing protestors with all their might have opposed the film, King Khan has defeated his opponents yet again. We do not get the whole idea of a film's success just by comparing the box-office numbers with other films, only the analysis of the numbers can only reveal whether the film is a success or not. Below are a few points which clearly suggest that Dilwale is a blockbuster.
Number of screens:
December 18 saw the mighty clash between Superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Dilwale and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus Bajirao Mastani. The first battle and the most important was that of the screens, Dilwale is said to be released in 2200 screens and Bajirao Mastani got 2000 screens. SRK's Red Chillies was distributing a film first time that too against a veteran like Eros, but the most intriguing thing was the distribution of the screens. It was obvious that Dilwale should get more single screens and BM should get more multiplexes but it was the other way round. Eros had signed contracts with single screen owners earlier and so BM got more single screens and Dilwale got more multiplexes. No one understood this masterstroke of Eros till second week when Star Wars released in India. Star Wars clearly had a wider release in multiplexes than single screens which led to more decrease in Dilwale's shows than BM. This move by Eros has had a great contribution to BM's lifetime collection.
The first weekend is the most crucial for any film's business. This year's highest grossing top two films were released in over 4000 screens and did superb business in the first weekend itself. Dilwale which only released 2200 screens on a non-festive weekend managed to earn 65Cr in 3 days. This number is huge if you compare it with Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PRDP's per screen collection. Dilwale also lost heavily because many shows were cancelled in 1st week due to protests. Therefore Dilwale did a phenomenal business in 1st week which is clearly the earliest indicator of a successful film.
Critics:
The world knows about the prejudice that critics have against Rohit Shetty films and as expected most critics gave negative reviews to Dilwale. While the audiences clapped,whistled and screamed at every scene and loved the film, the critics bashed the film in every possible way.
Bajirao Mastani is certainly a good film but critics clearly went overboard in their reviews. It is not that the critics were biased but film reviews are crucial when there is clash and movie goers are in dilemma to chose the film for the weekend. On the longer run it is the word of mouth that counts, Dilwale got a thumbs up from the family audiences because it is total entertainer and BM had the approval of critics. Poor reviews wouldn't normally affect such films but in this case of a clash, Dilwale suffered a dent in its collections.
Protests:
From comparing fan made posters of Dilwale with that of a Hollywood film, circulating fake plot of the movie and finally threats to theatre owners, Dilwale came across all type of hurdles. Over 900 shows were cancelled in the first week(most crucial) due to the protests by Right-wing groups and supporters of a major political party. The film had incomplete release in states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. These centres are most important of any film, so Dilwale suffered loses due to this protests. The protests were so intense that a citizen was threatened with rape and murder as she opposed these protestor in Mangalore who protesting Dilwale. This fear prevented many people from going to the theatres. The most shocking thing was the silence of media and film fraternity on this issue. A censor approved filmed should be allowed to release but the governments did not take strict actions against the protestors. Certainly Dilwale is a huge success because it managed to earn 145Cr(3rd week India net.) inspite of the huge loses in key centres.
Final Verdict:
Despite facing such obstacles Dilwale has earned over 340Cr worldwide. Dilwale has smashed every record in UK, Gulf, Malaysia and USA. The film still hasn't released in some countries which have a considerable Hindi film audience. Dilwale earned USD 22.5 in just 17 days, and soon may break many more records. It already is the fastest 100Cr grossing film overseas. No trade analyst can argue against the fact that Dilwale has done stupendous business overseas.
To summarise, the SRK-Kajol starrer has successfully overcome every obstacle; it is an All Time Blockbuster overseas and a Super Hit in India. Overall Dilwale is worldwide Blockbuster and King Khan is still invincible!
Number of screens:
December 18 saw the mighty clash between Superstar Shah Rukh Khan's Dilwale and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus Bajirao Mastani. The first battle and the most important was that of the screens, Dilwale is said to be released in 2200 screens and Bajirao Mastani got 2000 screens. SRK's Red Chillies was distributing a film first time that too against a veteran like Eros, but the most intriguing thing was the distribution of the screens. It was obvious that Dilwale should get more single screens and BM should get more multiplexes but it was the other way round. Eros had signed contracts with single screen owners earlier and so BM got more single screens and Dilwale got more multiplexes. No one understood this masterstroke of Eros till second week when Star Wars released in India. Star Wars clearly had a wider release in multiplexes than single screens which led to more decrease in Dilwale's shows than BM. This move by Eros has had a great contribution to BM's lifetime collection.
The first weekend is the most crucial for any film's business. This year's highest grossing top two films were released in over 4000 screens and did superb business in the first weekend itself. Dilwale which only released 2200 screens on a non-festive weekend managed to earn 65Cr in 3 days. This number is huge if you compare it with Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PRDP's per screen collection. Dilwale also lost heavily because many shows were cancelled in 1st week due to protests. Therefore Dilwale did a phenomenal business in 1st week which is clearly the earliest indicator of a successful film.
Critics:
The world knows about the prejudice that critics have against Rohit Shetty films and as expected most critics gave negative reviews to Dilwale. While the audiences clapped,whistled and screamed at every scene and loved the film, the critics bashed the film in every possible way.
Bajirao Mastani is certainly a good film but critics clearly went overboard in their reviews. It is not that the critics were biased but film reviews are crucial when there is clash and movie goers are in dilemma to chose the film for the weekend. On the longer run it is the word of mouth that counts, Dilwale got a thumbs up from the family audiences because it is total entertainer and BM had the approval of critics. Poor reviews wouldn't normally affect such films but in this case of a clash, Dilwale suffered a dent in its collections.
Protests:
From comparing fan made posters of Dilwale with that of a Hollywood film, circulating fake plot of the movie and finally threats to theatre owners, Dilwale came across all type of hurdles. Over 900 shows were cancelled in the first week(most crucial) due to the protests by Right-wing groups and supporters of a major political party. The film had incomplete release in states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. These centres are most important of any film, so Dilwale suffered loses due to this protests. The protests were so intense that a citizen was threatened with rape and murder as she opposed these protestor in Mangalore who protesting Dilwale. This fear prevented many people from going to the theatres. The most shocking thing was the silence of media and film fraternity on this issue. A censor approved filmed should be allowed to release but the governments did not take strict actions against the protestors. Certainly Dilwale is a huge success because it managed to earn 145Cr(3rd week India net.) inspite of the huge loses in key centres.
Final Verdict:
Despite facing such obstacles Dilwale has earned over 340Cr worldwide. Dilwale has smashed every record in UK, Gulf, Malaysia and USA. The film still hasn't released in some countries which have a considerable Hindi film audience. Dilwale earned USD 22.5 in just 17 days, and soon may break many more records. It already is the fastest 100Cr grossing film overseas. No trade analyst can argue against the fact that Dilwale has done stupendous business overseas.
To summarise, the SRK-Kajol starrer has successfully overcome every obstacle; it is an All Time Blockbuster overseas and a Super Hit in India. Overall Dilwale is worldwide Blockbuster and King Khan is still invincible!
