The year 2019 began with a bang thanks to ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’. This patriotic action film has crossed the Rs. 200 crore mark and if all goes well, it will even reach the Rs. 225 crore mark. Then there’s ‘Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi’. It has been an underperformer considering its cost but has still sustained well and will reach around Rs. 90 crore. Multiple movies hit theatres and turned out to be disasters. Even a film like ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga’ was expected to be a small hit but flopped.
However, it seems like this dry period is over. From this week, each Friday will have a significant release. In fact, the first of this lot released today, taking advantage of the Valentine’s Day celebrations. And this movie is none other than ‘Gully Boy’. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, it stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and is loosely based on the lives of the street rappers Divine and Naezy.
On paper, ‘Gully Boy’ might seem like a niche and urban film. But the presence of two prominent actors has added to the hype. The trailer is excellent and has been loved. Even the rap songs have caught on and have become chartbusters. In fact, it’s rare in today’s times for songs to be such a huge rage before the release.
The film has an advantage of a four-day weekend because of Valentine’s Day. This isn’t a big festival as such but collections on this day have always risen as the youth in urban and semi-urban areas tend to celebrate this majorly. And ‘Gully Boy’ is targeted at this set of audience. Hence, they’ll surely come out in large numbers to see the film. In fact, the opening can be in the range of Rs. 14-15 crore. And if the reports are positive, a Rs. 50 crore or even Rs. 60 crore weekend is possible. It can even go higher.
But that can happen only if the reports are positive. Also, it’s difficult to say if the story of a rapper in a Mumbai slum would resonate with everyone on a pan-India basis. If small towns don’t take to the film, the collections might not reach Rs. 100 crore or won’t go beyond Rs. 115-120 crore at the maximum. And this will happen only if the reports are positive.
The excitement of ‘Gully Boy’ is significant! Here’s hoping it works big time!
