The festival of lights is here and like every year, a big film is all set to release on this auspicious time. This year, ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ will hit the screens and in sync with the trend since 2014, it’ll release post Diwali day. Diwali is a time when a majority of the audience is busy with the Laxmi puja and stay away from cinemas. It’s only from the next day which is a national holiday of sorts that they come out in full force.
‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ stars Aamir Khan who also had a Diwali release last year, ‘Secret Superstar’ (2017). But he insisted to release it on the Diwali day and had said “Diwali ek shubh din maana jaata hai. [Diwali is considered to be an auspicious day] So, we want to release on a day which is emotionally important to us.” Initially, ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ was scheduled to come out today, November 7, the day of Diwali. But a few months ago, the makers announced that their film would instead be out on November 8.
Now that ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ is releasing on arguably the biggest holiday of the year, it seems like all opening day records would be broken. Till now, ‘Baahubali 2’ (2017) holds the record of highest opening day grosser as it had earned Rs. 40.73 crore on its day of release. ‘Sanju’ (2018) meanwhile holds the highest single-day figure ever for a Hindi film. It had collected an insane Rs. 46.73 crore on its third day. ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ can easily beat both the records and many feel it can collect Rs. 50 crore on its first day. ‘Baahubali 2’ did Rs. 40 crore plus on a non-holiday in the pre-GST era. Hence, ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ can easily earn Rs. 10 crore more than the epic blockbuster, considering the advantages. Besides Aamir Khan, it also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh. It’s directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, who last gave the blockbuster ‘Dhoom 3’ (2013) and is backed by the reputed Yash Raj Films. The film looks grand and spectacular and deserves a big-screen watch. The masses have loved the trailer and advance booking is super-strong in B and C centres.
‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ however also has a set of challenges. The trailer hasn’t been unanimously liked. A section of filmgoers are going to adopt a wait-and-watch strategy and would go for the film only if reports are positive. Music has barely been promoted and hence, no song is a chartbuster.
The first four days surely would be huge and the film can easily cross Rs. 150 crore mark and even Rs. 200 crore mark if the response is very positive. Also, the film has Aamir Khan who enjoys tremendous credibility. But if the response is bad, the film can go down from Monday. In the worst case scenario, the film might crash from Friday or Saturday itself. This will prove detrimental to the film since the budget is more than Rs. 200 crore.
2018 has been a fabulous year for Bollywood but even one colossal flop can affect the industry tremendously. Here’s hoping ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ fulfills all the expectations and emerges as a true-blue blockbuster!
