It's been two weeks since the release of Dum Maaro Dum (DMD), a film whose box office fate was arguably more important for its lead actor Abhishek Bachchan than for its makers. Because for AB Junior, 2010 was stuff nightmares are made of.
The much-hyped Raavan sank without a trace, netting a lifetime domestic box office of less than Rs. 29 crores. His other release of the year, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (where he didn't have Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman or AishwaryaRai for support) was out of the theatres within a week, netting less than Rs. 5 crore.
DMD is set to finish in the early 30-crore bracket too. Interestingly, that will make it one of Abhishek's biggest solo successes till date! In fact, it is set to cross the lifetime collections of the much-hyped Paa, where Junior had his father for company. In absolute terms, DMD's performance may be below par, but when seen from the perspective of Abhishek's poor box office track record, it is almost like a mini victory.
Box office analysts have been surprisingly dismissive of the film, almost as if they expected DMD to nett 40-50 crore over its lifetime! Now that would have made it Abhishek's biggest film after Dhoom 2.
To understand why an Abhishek Bachchan solo film can never cross the 35 crore mark, it is important to look at a certain piece of data from our monthly star popularity research called Stars India Loves (SIL).
Since the start of SIL six months ago, Abhishek Bachchan has consistently ranked outside the top 10 male stars on popularity. His father, who has not had a consistent presence in the theatres of late, ranks no. 8, at least four ranks above his son. In the key market of Mumbai, AB Junior just about makes it to the top 20 list, lagging behind the likes of Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol and EmraanHashmi. His popularity is so low that today, if someone were to make a film starring Abhishek and Anushka Sharma, the latter will manage to generate more footfalls in the theatre than the former!
In such a scenario, DMD crossing the 30 crore mark is no mean achievement. Because the moment you decide to cast Abhishek Bachchan, you have to learn to live with his box office reality.
To be fair to Abhishek, he has managed to make a mark as an actor in specific films, like Yuva, Guru and even Dum Maaro Dum. But these accolades have been far and few in between, and have just not added up to give his career any significant momentum.
Anyone else with such odds stacked against him would have found it difficult to get work of the stature Abhishek continues to do. But then, we all know that: In Bollywood, the son never sets.
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
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