Bollywood’s Sultan Salman Khan is coming up with his next action family entertainer, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, this Friday. The biggest superstars in Bollywood, with the exception of Shah Rukh Khan, have flopped badly post-pandemic. Now it’s time for Salman Khan to test his box office pull as Bollywood desperately needs a big hit.
The festival of Eid is his fort, where he has given many blockbusters like Dabanng, Kick, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and Sultan in the past. But the equations have changed now, especially after the pandemic. His latest film KBKJ is going to face rough weather at the box office if we take advance bookings into consideration.
One day before its release, the film has sold only 28,000 tickets at the premium multiplexes (PVR, Inox, and Cinepolis). By the end of the day, the final presales would be not more than 60,000 tickets which is even less than the likes of Laal Singh Chaddha and Vikram Vedha, which were colossal flops and couldn’t even cross 80 crores at the Indian box office.
The film was expected to open at least 20 crores net on the first day, which would have been a decent figure considering the conditions post-pandemic and being a remake of a 2014 Tamil film. But the advance bookings suggest that the film would be lucky to cross double-digit figures.
The overseas advance bookings also have been pathetic. In the U.S., the film has collected around $30,000 till now, which is a very low figure. In comparison, SRK’s Pathaan had already grossed $500,000 one day before its release at the US box office.
Because of these totally disappointing collections and that too during a lucrative period like EID, tongues are waging on social media that Salman Khan’s stardom is over. In the last few years, Salman Khan faced a lot of negativity after Sushant Singh Rajput’s unfortunate death. There has been a severe backlash against Salman Khan, which surely seems to have dented his image and also his box office clout.
Some trade analysts are coming to the rescue of Salman Khan and saying that since Friday is pre-eid, the collections are going to be low, and a huge jump will be seen on Saturday and Sunday.
Yes, collections might get affected in the range of 5-10% because of pre-Eid, but not to this level where the film will find it tough to even cross 10 crores net. Salman’s many films have collected 25 crore+ in the past in pre-Eid, including a disaster like Race 3. So these cover drives will not be enough to save Salman’s face.
Even hardcore Salman Khan fans have already lost hope in this film and have moved their focus to his next film, which is going to be YRF’s Tiger 3. That film, obviously, will do well, irrespective of the talk, at least during its first weekend. But for how long will Salman be dependent on franchise films? He seriously needs to reinvent himself on and also off-screen.
