Actor Abhishek Bachchan said that he isn’t one to complain when films do well at the box office, because ultimately, that’s what the industry needs. But, he said, on a purely mathematic level, the biggest hit of the year wasn’t Jawan or Pathaan, but probably director Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sleeper hit, 12th Fail. Abhishek was participating in a roundtable discussion with 12th Fail actor Vikrant Massey, where they were both asked about the resurgence of Bollywood in 2023, which has been fronted by a slew of hyper-masculine ‘films.
The biggest Hindi-language hits of the year are Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Jawan, the Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2, and Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal. But 12th Fail quietly ended up making nearly Rs 70 crore worldwide, despite being released in a fraction of the screens as some of the bigger films. Abhishek took the opportunity to explain how the business functions, and said that the marketplace isn’t conducive for smaller films, which are often held to the same standards as the big blockbusters.
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“Being a keen observer of, and a student of the industry, you also have to understand something known as a quantum. Vikrant has given a great example of a small film with a big heart working, but with all due respect, I’m not sure what his budget would’ve been. But it can’t have been more than single-digits, or Rs 10-12 crore. A movie that is made on that budget is going to have a possibility of only a certain kind of marketing. It’s going to grow, as it should, because it’s a good film. And that’s a prerequisite,” Abhishek said.
He added, “It’s not possible for a film like that, because of the system, to do Rs 500 crore. He doesn’t have those kind of theatres. The amount of people he’s managed to show the film to is because he has a particular number of theatres, so it’s occupancy percentage will be very high. You can’t expect him to compete with a Jawan, which is made on a budget of possible 20x of what his budget was. And, it’s Mr Shah Rukh Khan, who’s one of the biggest stars that the nation has ever seen. Every film has its own quantum, but if you see percentage ROI, I’m sure (Vikrant) has got the biggest hit of the year.”
Pathaan and Jawan grossed a combined total of around Rs 2200 crore worldwide, cementing Shah Rukh’s comeback. His latest film, Dunki, hasn’t been performing as well, however. The film has grossed a total of Rs 250 crore worldwide so far, in less than a week of release, and is pacing behind both Pathaan and Jawan, which had grossed at least twice as much in the same time. 12th Fail will debut on Disney+ Hotstar on December 29.
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