The month of May is going to be devoid of biggies. After all, the holy month of Ramzan will commence sometime next week and hence, a section of the population will stay away from cinemas. The next biggie will hence release once the Ramzan period is over and that film would be Salman Khan-starrer ‘Race 3’. Before this biggie, the only film that has a real chance of becoming a success at the box office is ‘Raazi’ which releases tomorrow.
‘Raazi’ stars Alia Bhatt in the leading role along with Vicky Kaushal, Jaideep Ahlawat and Rajit Kapur. It is directed by Meghna Gulzar, who rocked the show three years back with the critically acclaimed and commercially successful ‘Talvar’ (2015). ‘Raazi’ is co-produced by Talvar producers’ Junglee Pictures and also Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. It is based on the true story of an Indian girl who was sent to Pakistan as a spy during the 70s and is adapted from Harinder Sikka’s book ‘Calling Sehmat’. The storyline itself is quite interesting and moreover, the trailer has been unanimously loved, which is rare. The film looks thrilling, engrossing and also entertaining. Alia is a very popular and successful actress and her presence will ensure that the film gets more reach despite being a so-called women-centric film.
‘Raazi’ would surely get a wide release. In fact it can create a record among solo heroine films. Most of such films open well due to the sex or oomph quotient like ‘The Dirty Picture’ (2011) and ‘Heroine’ (2012). ‘Raazi’ has neither and would attract audiences simply because of the star cast (mainly Alia Bhatt) and exciting trailer. The last time something of this sort happened was during Priyanka Chopra’s starrer ‘Mary Kom’ (2014) which had an enviable opening of Rs. 8.32 crore. But looking at the hype and lack of significant competition, it seems that ‘Raazi’ would break ‘Mary Kom’s first day collections. The weekend will be healthy in the Rs. 25 crore range and then it’ll be the content that will do the talking.
