Uri and Kabir Singh: How they destroyed box-office myths and records
2019 has been a good year at the ticket windows for Bollywood. Even by conservative standards, NBO (Nett boxoffice receipts) will be up by 30% from last year. Many films performed well, but for me, two films stood out. Uri: The Surgical Strike and Kabir Singh. They defied every box-office expectation and delivered knockout blows. Even the makers wouldn't have dreamed of this level of success. Medium-budget films delivering all-time blockbuster business isn't something that happens every day after all.
Uri: The Surgical Strike
Before release, this film had caught people's fancy as it looked very realistic in its depiction and the tensions at the border helped. The expectation in the trade was for a 60-75 cr nett lifetime, optimistically speaking. Vicky Kaushal, the lead, hadn't delivered a solo success and the Director was a debutant. It was releasing alongside a controversial film, The Accidental Prime Minister. Uri opened well and clocked Rs. 71 cr nett in its first week itself. The film was loved by the audience and the dialogue, "How's the Josh?" had become very popular. The movie was contextual was executed realistically. People hitherto hadn't seen such an accurate depiction of army operations on the Indian screen.
The film then collected Rs. 63 cr nett in its second week a mind-numbing hold by any yardstick. Many territories actually were better than the first week truly remarkable. What made the film explode in its second week? Well, on 19th January, Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Cinema Museum and began his speech with, 'How's the Josh?' to thunderous applause. It went viral and became a part of popular culture, with everybody throwing the line at each other. In turn, the film immensely benefitted. It was at that moment that Uri tipped from being a phenomenon to an unstoppable trend. Of course, being a very well-made film helped convert it to box-office receipts. The film closed its run at an incredible Rs. 241 cr nett a figure that even most big league stars don't hit too often.
Kabir Singh
I saw Arjun Reddy on Amazon soon after its release. I enjoyed the film immensely, especially the lead's depiction. I assume many people like me had seen the film across the Hindi belt and loved it. It was widely discussed then as a film. Two years later, its Hindi remake hit the market. Shahid Kapoor wasn't really having a good time at ticket counters. His last film was a turkey. The trailer of Kabir Singh though was well received and the music was a chartbuster. Most analysts were predicting a Rs. 75cr nett lifetime for the film, which would have made it a certified success.
However, no one saw the undercurrent. The audience was very well aware of Arjun Reddy. Either they had seen it or had got great feedback. Arjun Reddy had become kind of a cult figure that specially the youth could identify with. The stage was set. The film exploded on day 1 and clocked a huge Rs. 20 cr nett, followed by an opening weekend of Rs. 70 cr nett the amount that trade analysts had predicted the film would do in its lifetime. The lifetime collections came in at Rs. 278 cr nett nearly 3.5 times its initial success benchmark. Arjun Reddy was the reference point and it worked like an assurance for the audience. Sandeep Reddy, the original director, calling the shots for the remake, also helped greatly.
Kabir Singh beats Avengers: Endgame
The other aspect of its success was Shahid Kapoor. A long time back, he had given a monster hit called Vivaah and that film had given him huge mass acceptance. Jab We Met further cemented his standing. Kapoor had been missing the mark lately, but when he delivered a universal product with novelty, people across the spectrum lapped it up, taking the film to dizzying heights.
These two films also made us realize that festivals are not needed to deliver blockbusters. If your film is appreciated, it can create a festival. These two films also broke the myth about box-office potential. It made us realize that the 100-crore club is pretty much irrelevant. Uri and Kabir Singh were classic examples of medium-budget films doing rollicking business, showing the way for the kind of mammoth business well-mounted big star-cast driven films can deliver. These two shocked us, but very pleasantly.
(The entire story has been written and submitted by reputed Trade Expert Vishek Chauhan)
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