The month of October is going to see multiple releases almost every week. Tomorrow, three major Hindi films and one Hollywood flick will try their luck in cinemas. Sadly, the Hindi releases might face a tough time.
The biggest release is ‘Mission Raniganj’. It stars Akshay Kumar in the lead and is inspired by the real story of Jaswant Singh Gill, who rescued 65 miners from a trapped mine. The trailer is decent but shockingly, the makers have barely promoted the film. Lead actor Akshay Kumar hasn’t given any interviews or attended events or TV shows for promotional purposes. As a result, many are not even aware that an Akshay Kumar film is up for release. Earlier this year, Akshay’s reputation took a beating as ‘Selfiee’ (2023) opened at just Rs. 2.54 Crore. It seems like ‘Mission Raniganj’ might open in the same range though there’s a hope that it’ll have a good occupancy in the evening. If that happens, the collections can be around Rs. 3-4 Crore. Even then, it’s a low opening and the film will have to have a very strong word of mouth to get a 100% + jump on Saturday and Sunday.
Then comes ‘Thank You For Coming’. It’s a sex comedy starring Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Shibani Bedi, Dolly Singh and Kusha Kapila. There’s a market for such women-centric adult films. The makers have tried their best to make noise. The film even premiered at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival. However, the excitement among the target audience is limited. It’ll open in the range of Rs. 1-2 Crore and like ‘Mission Raniganj’, the film might score if it jumps in the evening.
The third one, ‘Dono’ marks the directorial debut of Sooraj Barjatya’s son Avnish and the acting debut of Sunny Deol’s son Rajveer and Poonam Dhillon’s daughter Paloma. It is backed by Rajshri Productions and hence, it seems like a complete family entertainer. The film has paid previews from tonight and a restricted release from tomorrow. Due to negligible buzz and awareness, the collections will be very poor. The makers probably realized it and implemented the buy-one-get-one ticket offer.
Lastly, ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ will have a wide release from tomorrow. Horror is the flavour of the season. ‘The Exorcist’ brand is huge and it won’t be surprising if it opens better than ‘Mission Raniganj’.
