What are your predictions about the first day’s collections of Tiger 3? Will the opening day’s figure be the highest ever?

– The first day’s figure can’t be the highest ever because the film will release on the day of Diwali (Laxmi pooja). This may be a festive holiday but a lot of public of The Hindu community do not frequent cinemas on that day because they are bust with the festivities which include the Laxmi pooja, visiting family, relatives and friends, bursting crackers, etc. Also, several cinemas suspend a show or two on that day so that their staff members can celebrate the festival (including performing the Laxmi pooja) with their families. Shows suspended translates in to loss of revenue.

Will Vikrant Massey now get offers of commercial films from regular and big banners, after the success of his 12th Fail?

– He should! It will be a tragedy if commercial filmmakers and big producers even now don’t consider him as an actor who can deliver. But, I think, producers will wake up to the fact that he is a fantastic actor.

Why did producer Dinesh Vijan release Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video in cinemas without any publicity or promotion?

– Yes, you are right. He shouldn’t have released it in cinemas without enough promotion. The film was actually made for OTT release. A theatrical release was an afterthought.

How is Salaar releasing on 22nd December, the same day as Dunki?

– Obviously, to take advantage of the four-day Christmas weekend! Also, one hears that the religious advisers to the producers of SALAAR are said to have told them that 22nd December would be an auspicious day to release their film. That’s the reason they chose to come in direct opposition of DUNKI, the release of which had been finalised and announced many months earlier.

With Dunki and Salaar (dubbed) clashing at the box-office, what will the position of the exhibitors be?

– Exhibitors of single-screen cinemas will have a very tough time trying to balance the two films. Luckily for DUNKI, the distributors had signed their agreements with many single-screen cinemas of Delhi-U.P. just a day or two before the date of SALAAR (dubbed) was finalised. But in circuits where contracts of DUNKI have not been signed, exhibitors will be in a spot as distributors of both the films will try to arm-twist them into signing their film in preference to the other.

What did you think of the video of Tiger 3, released this week to market the film?

– Absolutely mind-boggling video! Going by the video, it can safely be predicted that the film — slated for release on Diwali — will take an outstanding initial.

Why hasn’t this week’s Bhool Chuk Maaf taken even an ordinary opening?

– Why should it have taken even an ordinary initial? The cancellation of the film’s release on 9th May, at the last moment, got a lot of media coverage. The argument of PVR Inox in court — that producer Dinesh Vijan had cancelled the theatrical release at the eleventh hour because of poor response at the advance booking windows and not because of the war-like situation in the country — has also become public knowledge. After that, how can you expect the public to go to the cinemas to watch the film on the first day? And the most important point is the fact that BHOOL CHUK MAAF will be on OTT after two weeks. When this is public knowledge, how could you even imagine that the film would take a decent or even an average start? When the current exclusive theatrical window of eight weeks is being considered to be too small (because of which people are reluctant to come to the cinemas and instead prefer waiting for eight weeks to catch the film on OTT), you can well imagine the effect of the fact that this film will be streaming after just two weeks of its theatrical release.

What did you think of the teaser of Housefull 5?

– It’s an entertaining teaser. Plus, the film looks star-studded. The Laal pari song, shown in the trailer, should soon become popular because it looks like a potential hit!

What happens to the actors who are launched in films which don’t do well at all?

– Many of the times, the actors of such flop films also sink into oblivion because in this industry, nothing succeeds like success.

Will the domestic theatrical business of K.G.F. Chapter 2 be more than the lifetime domestic box-office collections of Dangal? What will you consider — the business of all the versions of K.G.F. Chapter 2 or only the Hindi dubbed version — while drawing a comparison with Dangal?

– We will compare the business of DANGAL with that of the Hindi dubbed version of K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 only, because a Hindi film’s business needs to be compared with another Hindi film’s business only. And yes, K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 will definitely surpass DANGAL. Once it does, the order in terms of domestic theatrical business would be: (1) BAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION (dubbed), (2) K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 (dubbed), (3) DANGAL.

Will Bollywood filmmakers now restart making action films?

– Yes, they definitely will, now that the Hindi dubbed versions of three South Indian action films have succeeded at the turnstiles. PUSHPA: THE RISE PART 1 (Hindi dubbed) was a hit, RRR (Hindi dubbed) was a bigger hit, and K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 (Hindi dubbed) is the biggest of the three. Frankly, the Bollywood trade misjudged the scenario and propounded the theory that multiplex audiences do not like action fares. They have now realised that their conclusion was completely wrong because all the three abovementioned action fares have done roaring business in the multiplexes just like they’ve done in the single-screen cinemas.

Why does the trade attach so much importance to the opening day’s collections of a film?

– Simply because the business today is that of initial. There are so many films in the release pipeline that films rarely get a chance to grow after a weak start. Even if a film’s content is very strong but it does not open too well, there’s a limit to how much it can grow after a dull start because cinemas (single-screen as well as multiplex) have to allot shows to new films slated for release in the weeks that follow. In other words, the running films have to be sacrificed for the newer ones. If a film takes a flying start, it does not need to run for a long time in the cinemas to become profitable.

How do producers decide what content is meant for the big screen and what’s appropriate for OTT?

– There are several parameters to decide whether content is meant for the big or the small screen. The story and drama of the content, the target audience of the content, the dialogues (whether four-letter words are necessary), the budget, the star cast… these and a host of other factors help a producer to decide whether he should adapt a particular content for the cinemas or OTT platforms. This apart, producers are also adept at thinking backwards. If they’ve made content for the small screen, they can justify why it was conceived for the OTT platform rather than for the big screen. Likewise, if they’ve made a film for the cinemas, they can give you many reasons why it was meant for the big screen only.

Why do South producers not promote their films in regions other than South India when they dub them in Hindi and release them all over India?

– Generally speaking, the fault lies more with the stars of the South films. They are happy in their space down South and, therefore, don’t allot dates for promotion in the other parts of the country.        

To whom would you give more credit to for the stupendous success of Stree 2?

– To director Amar Kaushik for the fabulous making of the film with all the conviction at his command, to Niren Bhatt for writing such an outstanding commercial drama, and to producers Dinesh Vijan and Jio Studios for sparing no efforts and money to make the film the way they did.    

What is the kind of feeling you have been getting about Dunki? I ask this question because although I am a fan of Rajkumar Hirani’s films, the trailer of Dunki did not excite me enough.

– Yes, I agree, there are people who haven’t taken much of a fancy for the trailer of DUNKI, but that’s because they’ve probably missed a very important emotion in it. The point which Shah Rukh Khan makes about the Britishers staying in India for a hundred years — without visas — and ruling over us, but now insisting on visas for Indians to enter their country will be met with applause in the film. That’s because the scene will instil in the viewers a sense of avenging the British Raj when the film unfolds on the screen. And that, in all probability, will be a very big emotion which will endear Shah Rukh and the film to the audience.

What is the biggest takeaway from the runaway success of Animal for the trade and for Ranbir Kapoor?

– For the trade, the biggest takeaway is that if the content is good, length is strength. You may recall, the trade was not at all happy about the film’s running time of 3 hours and 23 minutes. Before the film’s release, exhibitors were unhappy as they would have had to start the first show very early and also because there would have to be a restriction on the number of shows due to its unusual length. But the public didn’t complain about the film’s length. For Ranbir Kapoor, the biggest takeaway is that he has become a hero of the masses after this film. Collections of ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres for the film are of the kind never before seen for a Ranbir Kapoor starrer.

It was assumed for a long time that action films don’t go down well with the multiplex audience. What happened to that theory?

– The theory has been debunked! Sometimes, false theories are propounded, and they do the rounds for so long that they are assumed to be the gospel truth. However, in reality, they become theories only because nobody questioned them. That action films don’t work in multiplexes was one such theory which gained ground because people blindly accepted it. It is only after the stupendous success of films like RRR (dubbed) and K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 (dubbed) that the trade people started questioning the two-decades-long theory. The runaway success of films like PATHAAN, GADAR 2, JAWAN and ANIMAL this year has reiterated the fact that the theory was baseless.     

Why has this week’s Avatar: Fire And Ash not had a saturated release?

– It is because of DHURANDHAR which did phenomenally well in its second week (December 12 to 18). Looking at the extraordinary collections of DHURANDHAR, its distributors did not permit multiplexes to reduce their shows beyond a certain point. The multiplexes, elated by the collections, happily obliged. The distributors of DHURANDHAR also did not allow single-screen cinemas to share shows with AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. Rather than discontinue DHURANDHAR, the single-screen cinemas decided to forgo AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. After all, DHURANDHAR is the first film in cinematic history to collect more in its second week than its first week, after an earth-shattering first week!

Why has the release of Ikkis been shifted once again — from 25th December to 1st January, 2026? Generally speaking, don’t multiple postponements adversely affect the film in question?

– IKKIS has been postponed by a week so as to not clash with the star-cast TU MERI MAIN TERA MAIN TERA TU MERI. Multiple postponements adversely affect a film if it is a big star-cast film. Since IKKIS stars an almost new hero (Agastya Nanda), the second postponement will not adversely affect it. Rather, lack of opposition in its week of release will benefit it.

How would you describe year 2025 from the box-office point of view?

– Since DHURANDHAR is such a massive blockbuster, the box-office earnings in year 2025 will be noteworthy. This one film has tilted the scales positively.

Why are your reviews of films not highlighted in half- and full-page advertisements issued by producers for their films on the day of release of the films or on the following day or following Sunday?

– Only those reviews which talk in glowing terms about the film are highlighted in the advertisements, for obvious reasons. Strangely and quite often, the one-liners and stars mentioned against the names of the reviewers are given before some of those reviewers have even watched the film in question! That is why you may generally be seeing the same names being highlighted. Do you think, I would fall prey to such gimmicks? I don’t believe in pleasing producers. I am happy that my readers/viewers trust my reviews. That’s far, far more important than one’s name being flashed in dubious newspaper ads.

How were you so confident about the bumper opening of K.G.F. Chapter 2? In your ‘You Asked It’ column of 1st April (two weeks before the film’s release), you had said that the craze for the film was growing by the day and that the film’s opening would be bumper.

– You have my answer in your observation. I could say what I said because the craze for the film was growing by the day. If you want to understand how I gauged that, well, one has to have his ear to the ground all the time in this industry.

Was the decision of the producers of Jersey to postpone their film, right?

– Of course, it was cent per cent right. Looking to the bumper-and-beyond initial of K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 yesterday (Thursday, April 14), one can well say that releasing JERSEY alongside K.G.F. CHAPTER 2 would have been suicidal for the producers and distributors of JERSEY.

Is it time for revision of star prices now? After all, films are falling like nine pins at the box-office.

– It will never be time for revision of star prices till producers don’t stop chasing stars. While stars are in short supply, the number of films being made with a handful of saleable stars is ever-increasing. That is why the call for revision of star prices will always fall on deaf ears. Had the stars been a conscientious lot, they would have reduced the fees they charge, of their own volition. But which star has that kind of a clean conscience? Which star is thinking of the industry before himself? (Picture above is for representational purpose only.)

I have a wonderful script which I have myself written. But I’m finding it difficult to get a star who will work in my film. What can I do?

– Every writer thinks, he has written a wonderful script. Before the audience also thinks so, the stars have to be convinced of the wonderfulness of the script, otherwise such projects never take off. This is not to dissuade you, but are you sure that your script is indeed very good? Has a person unrelated to your script endorsed it or found it interesting?

Have our filmmakers forgotten to make good films?

– I don’t think so. That is why the spate of flops is not really cause for concern. The situation would’ve been tension-ridden if our filmmakers had lost their creativity. But the fact is that Bollywood films are flopping not because our filmmakers don’t know to make good films but because the urge to make good films has taken a backseat. The motivating force is profitability which is assured for even below-average fares.