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There was a time when female-oriented films were a rarity in Hindi cinema. However, over the last several years, things have changed!
Priyanka Chopra's FASHION, Sridevi's ENGLISH VINGLISH, Vidya Balan's THE DIRTY PICTURE and KAHAANI, and even Alia Bhatt's HIGHWAY (although it didn't fare well at the box office, it was directed by a big-name director Imtiaz Ali) are all examples of women-oriented cinema that has raised the confidence in other directors to make such films.
This Friday will see the release of another such film: Kangana Ranaut's QUEEN.
Kangana Ranuat has been applauded by many over the years for her acting talent. Of course, her fans were ecstatic when KRRISH 3 (a film which she had a significant role in) became a huge Blockbuster. But of course, it can't be denied that the film was always considered to be a Hritikh film. With QUEEN, Kangana has a chance to prove herself when it comes to solo box office success!
The trailer has been appreciated by people and so has Kangana. However, there are some drawbacks that the film faces.
The first problem with such films is that it is a given that they will have a very poor opening, and especially because Kangana Ranuat doesn't have star power to pull the audience to theatres. With such a poor opening, the film has to rely completely on word of mouth to succeed. The other problem in connection with this is that a film like QUEEN is a multiplex film, and has absolutely no appeal for masses. Furthermore, being a female-oriented film (and that too, with the female lead not being a crowd-pulling name), it restricts the appeal of the film even further.
In short, it makes QUEEN a niche film that would only appeal to the audience in a handful of cities/metros. That's about it!
The songs of the film have not caught on either.
The opening of the film will be very poor on Friday morning. It will be better at some multiplexes of bigger cities, but still poor. At mass-dominated areas and single screens, the opening will be horrible and collections will stay that way in mass areas for the duration of the film's lifetime run. Also, with opening, it faces competition from two other films (GULAAB GANG and TOTAL SIYAPAA).
On the positive side, the film has had some very positive pre-release feedback. If the word of mouth amongst the public is the same amongst the multiplex audience, then the film will grow during Friday afternoon/evening shows and will grow further on Saturday and Sunday.
Personally, I think the film will not have a good run: it may show growth over the weekend with positive WOM, but I think that weekday collections will remain low, especially when the opening will be so poor. Even if collections were to sustain on weekdays, they would still remain low due to the low starting point. Furthermore, next week YRF's BEWAKOOFIYAN (Ayushman-Sonam starrer) will release, and it will dent the collections of QUEEN.
Another negative factor is that over the last few weeks, the multiplex films like HIGHWAY and SHAADI KE SIDE EFFECTS that at least had names like Imtiaz Ali and Farhan/Vidya associated with them didn't fare well at the box office, so the box office outcome of a multiplex film with a lower star (Kangana) could produce an even worse result.
Positive WOM is going to be key for QUEEN.
My Box Office Predictions for QUEEN:
Opening Day: 2 crores net
Opening Weekend: 10 crores net
Lifetime Collections: 20 crores net
Overall Box Office Verdict: Average
Ufff Yeh Love Hai Mushkil
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