Why Akshay Kumar's movies can't be compared with Khans in opening?

Q.What is the reason that Akshay Kumar's movies can't be compared with Khans in terms of opening. If we go by fan following Akshay kumar is bigger star than Amir Khan, he has more loyal fans as compared to him. Do you think any of Akshay Kumar's upcoming movie can get 20+cr opening without festive day release?

Ans. He is not a bigger box office star than Aamir Khan as thats what box office figures say. But yes the popularity is there as his mass entertainers rate on television as good or even better than anyone else. What this means is there is a problem with content as the audience watches on television but the content or look is not good enough to bring them to the theatres. A good comparison is Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho. If we take out the holiday factor for Jai Ho, the difference is 18 crore beteweem them in terms of lifetime business. Both similar action films, both under performers, both actors in heroic mode which is important for big numbers but both let down by production values which is also very important today with high ticket rates. This gap is not a huge one but the problem is Akshay Kumar has Gabbar Is Back which can be compared with Jai Ho but does not have a film which can be compared with Kick, Ek Tha Tiger or Bajrangi Bhaijaan in terms of even the look, forget content. A 20 crore non holiday opening is not hard for Akshay Kumar but it will have to the right film. Put him in the above mentioned Salman Khan films and they may not open to Salman levels as he is on the crest of a wave at the moment but it can also easily be said that they won't open to 12 or 13 crore like Gabbar Is Back or Brothers. The difference will probably be that Gabbar Is Back and Jai Ho difference.

V Yadav

Q. Last week you said that Sholay had a historic opening then why is it that you read everywhere that it had a disaster opening and makers wanted to change the film?.

Ans. At the time business was not about the weekend or first week and a huge film like Sholay had to do a multiple centre jubilee to cover its cost and with such poor feedback from trade, reviewers and the industry in general, the makers would have been worried that collections will come down and film will not run so they may have thought what could be changed. Looking at collections it beat every initial record that had been set by Roti Kapada Aur Makaan the previous record holder for initial records.

M. Shukla

Q. The time of Silver, Golden and Platinum jubilees are long gone but which were the last films to reach these respective landmarks?

Ans. Jubilees can be separated in two era's. One pre Sholay the other post Sholay. Pre Sholay was geniune jubilees with blockbuster films hitting silver jubilees at 15, 20 and even more centres. Post Sholay which hit umpteen jubilees it became more of a perception as films were stretched on deficits or reach various landmarks be it 25, 50, 60 or 75 weeks. A bit like today where films are inflated to reach 50, 100 or 150 crore marks be it for the weekend, week or lifetime. Post Sholay practically every major film made a silver jubilee in Mumbai on a matinee show as it hardly cost the producer anything. This never happened in Delhi as there was no trend of matinee shows and rentals were higher. So a film would reach 25 weeks in Mumbai where as Delhi run would be 5-6 weeks and 90% of the time this meant fake jubilee. In the 90's jubilees faded as for example a Khalnayak releases in nine cinemas in Indore and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun in one so the former had no chance of a ten week run let alone a jubilee. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun was the last genuine golden jubilee as it hit the mark in around 20 cinemas not counting where it was taken there on matinee shows. It also had a geniune platinum jubilee in Liberty Mumbai and Rajmandir Jaipur . Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge hit platinum at Maratha Mandir in Mumbai but that was on matinee. On matinee shows, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun also hit platinum in Maheshwari Hyderabad. The last real silver jubilee was Gadar which hit the 25 week mark in around 15 centres.

Geet Jain