Aiyaary has gone through some unfortunate circumstances in recent weeks. The film was originally supposed to release during the Republic Day weekend, clashing with PadMan, which in itself was a problem given the fact that PadMan is a bigger film. Unfortunately, Padmaavat was then announced for the Republic Day weekend, a film that was much bigger than PadMan, forget Aiyaary!
Aiyaary had no choice but to move from the Republic Day weekend in order to avoid getting sandwiched between two bigger films, so they moved to Feb 9. Fate would not be on Aiyaary's side again, as PadMan then decided to move to Feb 9. Finally, the makers of Aiyaary decided to release the film on Feb 16, the final release date!
The problem is, there has been so much confusion regarding this film's release date that many may not even be aware that the film is releasing this Friday. The pre-release buzz for the film is low, and is not being helped by the fact that the music of the film has not gathered popularity, hero Sidharth Malhotra has been delivering back-to-back box office failures (Baar Baar Dekho, A Gentleman, and Ittefaq), and the film lacks mass appeal, evident with the fact that the theatrical trailer hardly has a glimpse of the heroine in the film, if there even is a glimpse!
Truth be told, I don't think the public word-of-mouth of the film will be negative. People have noticed that the film looks too similar to A Wednesday, but Neeraj Pandey's directorials are typically well-appreciated by the multiplex audience. However, with the low buzz and lack of universal appeal that the film carries, it will be hard for the film to go anywhere at the box office!
My Box Office Predictions for Aiyaary:
Opening Day: 2 crore nett
Opening Weekend: 9 crore nett
Lifetime Collections: 18 crore nett
Overall Verdict: Disaster
As always, you can follow me on Twitter at Bobby Sidhu!
Seher Hone Ko Hai
CID
68