On the first day of the release of Tubelight, a few trade pundits had claimed that the Salman Khan starrer would do well despite the unwelcoming critical response. The figures for the weekend and Eid are out, and they are nothing, but disappointing.
The film has made Rs 80 crore in four days. A lukewarm opening of Rs 20 crore on Friday was followed with Rs 19 crore on Saturday, Rs 22.50 crore on Sunday and Rs 18.50 crore on Monday, the day people celebrated Eid after a month of Ramadan that meant abstinence from many indulgence including movies. If the stats are to be believed, this is the weakest opening for a Salman Khan film.
Film critic Taran Adarsh tweeted about the last few Eid releases and the respective one-day collection. In 2012, Ek That Tiger made Rs 32.93 crore; in 2014, Kick made Rs 26.40 crore; in 2015, Bajrangi Bhaijaan clocked Rs 27.25 crore and in 2016, Sultan made Rs 36.54 crore.
Over the last few years, Eid had been a favourable time for films starring Salman Khan. Fans would reach theatres armed with dhol. But the scene was different this time. "The audience are disappointed," says Manoj Desai, the owner of G7 Cinemas in Mumbai that includes the popular Gaiety Cinema, which witnesses Salman's fanfare like no other. "There has been no celebration like it used to be. The occupancy is only dipping," Desai remarks. He adds that Salman's fans expect him to be Salman as he always is, "but the romance, the action and the cheeky humour are missing and thus there's no pull for the audience."
Nagpur based exhibitor and distributor, Akshaye Rathi couldn't agree more. He says that the audience come to watch Salman on Eid; they don't want to see Laxman Singh Bisht. "The audience need two-and-a-half hours of unadulterated entertainment when they enter (the theatre) for a Salman Khan film. Tubelight has failed to do that," he says, adding that Bajrangi Bhaijaan, again a simpleton, worked because there was a lot of goofiness of Salman in it.
Post Wanted, which released in 2009 amidst much fanfare and a lot of promotional stunts, Salman Khan's films have always done well, except for 2014 release, Jai Ho. But Tubelight seems a bigger debacle because the number of screens it got is almost double. If Jai Ho released on 3,900 screens in India and around 650 screens overseas, Tubelight has been the widest release ever for a Hindi film—5,550 screens worldwide. It includes 4,350 screens in India (Dangal – 4,300, Sultan – 4,200) and 1,200 screens internationally in traditional markets (excluding China and other non traditional markets). Dangal and Sultan had got 1,000 screens each abroad.
Salman has been on an image changing spree, trying to re-establish himself as an actor. This time around, his efforts seem to have failed. His next release is Tiger Zinda Hai, being directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. The film, which will release in December, is a sequel to Ek Tha Tiger.
