BackFox Star India finds elusive success with ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’
The Salman Khan-starrer made close to Rs143 crore by the end of its four-day Diwali opening weekend on Monday
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New Delhi: Director Sooraj Barjatya’s family drama Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is storming the box office despite receiving mixed reviews. The Salman Khan-starrer made close to ₹ 143 crore by the end of its four-day Diwali opening weekend on Monday, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, and is going strong.
“I think the combination of Sooraj Barjatya and Salman Khan along with the fact that Bollywood hasn’t seen a truly clean, family entertainer in a long time has worked for the film," said Shikha Kapur, chief marketing officer at Fox Star Studios, which produced the movie together with Rajshri Productions.
The kind of bulk booking that theatres have reported for the movie shows that it’s emerged as an opportunity for the entire family to bond over something, she said.
Trade analyst Atul Mohan attributed the strong opening of the film to a couple of factors, besides the clean, traditional story. “They had a clear window since no film had really done well since Bajrangi Bhaijaan (in July). Also, festive seasons like Diwali are usually the best time for people to go out and spend money," he said.
For Fox, the film comes as a breather after a spate of failures this year—from Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet to the recent Dussehra debacle Shandaar.
Shandaar, made at a cost of ₹ 70 crore, barely grossed ₹ 60 crore worldwide. Bombay Velvet, the Ranbir Kapoor period drama, made at a cost of ₹ 120 crore, earned less than ₹ 25 crore, according to film website Bollywood Hungama.
“We’re happy because we’ve worked very hard on this film. And we realize that in this industry, you’re as good as your last release," said Kapur. “Of course, it’s important to look back and we do know we haven’t chosen the right films sometimes as far as content and costing go."
She added that while the studio is nervous about all its films, it realized it would have to create a broader appeal for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo than most movies.
“Most films nowadays are targeted at the youth, which brings in the crowd the first two days. But this wasn’t the typical date or buddy film. So it was important to expand our footprint to cover entire families and yet not alienate any section of the audience," said Kapur.
So while the team went all out to promote its music—which it considered a major strength of the movie—on music channels, it also tried to conquer the festive family space on general entertainment channels through shows like Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah on SAB TV and the Diwali celebration show Prem Ki Diwali on Life OK.
Brand associations, worth ₹ 30 crore, focused on family-oriented products like Haldiram’s confectionaries, Gowardhan ghee, Pigeon Appliances and so on. Meanwhile, enthusiasm in the digital space was kept alive through Dubsmash videos and tie-ups with Twitter and Google.
Grossing ₹ 40.35 crore on its opening day, Barjatya’s film, which released in around 5,600 screens worldwide, outdid the first-day domestic collections of Salman Khan’s previous release Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The question remains whether the Rajshri family drama will surpass Bajrangi’s first week collections of ₹ 184.62 crore.
And trade analyst Mohan expects the film to maintain its pace in pulling crowds in.
“As schools and colleges reopen today and tomorrow onwards, youngsters will definitely flock to theatres despite negative reports since ticket prices have been brought down. Plus, women have already been turning up in huge numbers since Saturday," he said. “It may not manage numbers as huge as its opening, but the film will continue to do well and remain steady."
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