Why ELKDTAL didn't work at the BO?

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Male-Chauvinist-Pig

@Ur-Miserable

Stunner

+ 4

Posted: 6 years ago

#31

Originally posted by: *Reemz*
But Kareena never had a big BO pull herself. She's had many flops right?

I think now the audience goes by the content, even if it is taboo, if the screenplay is engrossing they'll watch it. As an audience, when I was watching it I wanted to watch more of the actual premise, not the additional faltu characters.

I honestly don't think the whole of India is that backwards that it wouldn't want to watch a well-told homosexual story...but fact was, the love story was missing. Whether it's the critics or audience they've been all asking why the love interest wasn't shown more.

Kareena is still a bigger name than Sonam.

Not whole of India is regressive, but the audience because of which movies earn 100 crores, 200 crores and more, don't watch this movies.
That is the reason these movies have to work in the five big metros as I already said.
Which this movie didn't.
I don't know how good is the movie as I haven't seen it, hence I didn't commented on the story or acting, but WOM never picked up.

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*Reemz*

@*Reemz*

Trailblazer

+ 5

Posted: 6 years ago

#32

Originally posted by: Thug-Leader

Kareena is still a bigger name than Sonam.

Not whole of India is regressive, but the audience because of which movies earn 100 crores, 200 crores and more, don't watch this movies.
That is the reason these movies have to work in the five big metros as I already said.
Which this movie didn't.
I don't know how good is the movie as I haven't seen it, hence I didn't commented on the story or acting, but WOM never picked up.

Yeh the WOM should've been stronger which I feel wasn't due to the theme, it was the lack of foundation given to the theme.

I liked the film, it had heart but there's just glaring flaws if you watch it you'll hopefully understand what the movie could have been.

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Maaya_Memsaab

@Maaya_Memsaab

Voyager

Posted: 6 years ago

#33

Weren't people saying Sonam & Rajkumar have ''starpower'' & can run movies on their name due to Neerja & Stree? Now what? 😆

Give Neerja & Stree to any other actor.. & they would've done similar or maybe even more business. It was the script that made those movies hit, not Sonam or RKR.

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Maraka_Musso89

@Maraka_Musso89

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 6 years ago

#34

Lol at people saying Sonam was the issue. In the meantime, she's the only A lister who did the role and -believe it or not- her performance was quite appreciated.

The movie didn't work because people didn't want to watch a movie about homosexuals. It has to be noted that ELKDTAL raked in little more money than Aligarth which was also hailed by critics and fetched awards to the team.

One also has to take into account that Uri and Manikarnika were doing strong. Both these movies seemed good from the trailer and they might be appealing to a greater number seeing their themes and genres compared to Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.

Some people might bring in Dostana or Kapoor and Sons but while the aforementionned movie was a comedy in which the characters weren't gay and were vying for Priyanka's attention, the latter was sold as being a love triangle for the longest time. Also their WAS the classical romance between a man and a woman and I think it was easier for people to see Fawad -an import- playing the gay character than an Indian.

Regarding the promos, this movie was never meant to be a blockbuster seeing its limited release. It's understandable that they didn't make promos like for a movie that will release in 3 to 5 times more screens.

Saying that ELKDTAL didn't work isn't quite right because it managed to attain some of the objective that were fixed. Mainly representing in a mainstream movie people who are deemed different and want to break free from society's rules(cf the director's interview).

Finally, didn't the team already know the movie wouldn't do wonders at the box office as they were already talking about the digital release while the movie was still running ?

Lastly, I'm quite sure that even if some people wanted to watch it, they might not have been confortable going to the theaters to watch it.

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1098676

Suspended

Posted: 6 years ago

#35

Originally posted by: *Reemz*

Most of the reviews were good. The only major criticism was that there wasn't enough of Sweety & Kuhu.

Reviews seemed to be mixed to average to me. Not really positive.

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OG Evil Spawn

@Maroonporsche

Achiever

+ 11

Posted: 6 years ago

#36

Bad film = Flop film 😆😆😆

Change the world in a better way next time 😆😆

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ffkhan

@ffkhan

Sparkler

+ 8

Posted: 6 years ago

#37

They tried to sugarcoat the trailer with the portrayal of Rajkumar-Sonam chemistry rather than showing the chemistry of the female leads. Many audience did not get what the film was about and thought it to be a typical romantic film.

Then they could do some promotional activities with gay or lesbian couples but in a country like India people seldom want to come out as homosexual.

Also if I'm not wrong, in the ending Anil Kapoor's character accepted her daughter's relationship right? If it is so, then that's a huge weakness of the plot. Coz it will just show that a girl needs an approval of their parents to make a decision for what partner she will choose! 😕 The story could be much stronger if Sonam's decision in the ending would be bold enough to decide whom to choose as her life partner regardless of the society and her parents' opinion. It could be more realistic too. Otherwise somehow it remains a boneless movie, nevertheless!

Edited by ffkhan - 6 years ago

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643898

Hibernated

Posted: 6 years ago

#38

I think that time is long gone when ppl used to watch movies just for sex scenes . I mean po*n is available everywhere and BW doesnt even proper nudity 😆

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return_to_hades

@return_to_hades

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 6 years ago

#39

1. Lack of Starpower

Neither Sonam Kapoor or Rajkumar Rao are big box office draws. All of Rajkumar Rao's hits have been due to an amalgamation of writing, direction, performances, and word of mouth. Sonam has a reputation of being an underperformer. People typically do not seek out her films unless they a) hear its good or b) it has other big stars.

Had the film contained other A-listers like Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, then maybe their fandoms would have given it mileage.

BUT Kudos to Sonam Kapoor for doing the role. No one will ever be able to take this away from her. Love her or hate her, she has sealed her name in cinematic history by this bold choice.

2. Uneven Promotion

The promotion of the film started too late. Also, the makers weren't sure how to promote it. They showed it as a run of the mill love story. They dropped a lot of hints of the LGBTQ subject matter, but never outright promoted it.

I thought the hetbaiting would be enough to draw people. But I was wrong. It wasn't enough. People are not going to see two nonstars in a run of the mill love story.

3. Inability to generate WOM

Although an enjoyable movie, it wasn't able to generate WOM. People were unable to look past the flaws and missteps. Most Indians are not as invested in LGBTQ issues to promote a film that didn't meet their standards of good film. Stree, Badhai Ho and Andhadhun generated a lot of WOM because script and direction wise they were indeed far superior.

4. India is still homophobic

India just was not ready to embrace it. Section 377 was recently scrapped. People are still evolving in their thought process. It will take time for India to warm up to this content. Hollywood just started making more mainstream LGBTQ film and television representation has just increased in the past few odd years. We cannot expect India to change overnight. Instead, we should applaud India that it's changing at a much faster pace than the USA did.

In retrospect, if they focused more on Sweety/Kuhu and packaged it as an LGBTQ love story containing all Bollywood tropes - the urban market may have consumed it at a higher rate. But they wanted to reach a conservative and rural base. When you think of it - you realize that they were indeed reaching a bit to far. But they tried and opened the door of ideas. Maybe someone will walk down the path in the future and improve on it.

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Maraka_Musso89

@Maraka_Musso89

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 6 years ago

#40

I don't think people really understand that the movie would have gotten limited collection seeing the subject and screen counts.

I personally think that movies dealing mainly with a LGBTQIA angle as the major trope will have limited appeal as even though some people think themselves as open-minded they won't go to watch this kind of movie.

It had good reviews so it's not about the quality of the movie. Those who complained about wanting to see more Sweety and Kuhu actually went to the theaters. The others didn't care much and apparently some people left the theater in digits when they undestood what it was about.

For that matter Aligarth which was a movie about a character didn'tgather much audience either.

People don't seem to understand that when the movie was being made, sectin 377 was still definitely in place and so it might explain some of the editorial choices concerning the movie.

Sonam is definitely an A lister. What would she be otherwise?