Star Akshay Kumar is back in a film which venerates the fighter pilots of the India-Pakistan war of 1965, but little else is hitting its mark and the vicious attack on star Saif Ali Khan could lead to big changes with the way stars generate interest and publicity in Mumbai especially, writes our eyes on the industry..
By Rodrigues C
THE BURGLARY attempt on the house of Saif Ali Khan and the ensuing stabbing of the actor has shaken Bollywood to the core. After the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput (June 2020), this has been the biggest shocker in Mumbai’s film industry.
As new revelations come to the fore about the crime on a regular basis, security is taking priority among Bollywood folks – considering the fact that many stars are frequently tailed by the paparazzi.
Yes, the big stars, like the Khans, are provided state security; they have their own security apparatus as well. But mid-level stars such as Saif Ali Khan don’t move around with security, which makes sure you sleep safe in your house and walk freely without any kind of fear.
Also, the paparazzi culture operates a little differently than say in Hollywood, mostly.
In Bollywood, PR agents frequently call up photographers and give details of their Bollywood clients’ whereabouts. This amounts to letting strangers in the personal space of a person, even though many photographers wait for the celebs outside their homes.
So, in reality, almost all celebrity sightings in Bollywood are pre-planned. This is one of the best kept secrets of Bollywood, which only the inner circle in the paparazzi and Bollywood press is privy to. This practice could come under greater scrutiny since the Saif Ali Khan incident.
Many wonder if the city photographers have to pay the price for something which is completely unrelated to their area of work.
The biggest movie of the month has lived up to its reputation.
We are talking about ‘Sky Force’ and its lead actor Akshay Kumar who hasn’t delivered a hit since ‘Sooryavanshi’ (£18.2 million) in 2021 has finally found success. ‘Sky Force’ hit theatres on January 24 with a collection of £1.1m (₹12.25 crore, first movie of Aki to reach double digits on opening day since ‘OMG 2’ in August, 2023), which skyrocketed to £2m the following day, a Saturday.
The almost 80 per cent jump in collections shocked most film pundits, who were expecting a slump just like most of Aki’s recent disasters. Surprisingly, Sunday brought in more good news for the Abhishek Anil Kapur-Sandeep Kewlani directorial with the box office collection swelling to £2.6m. As things stand, the actioner, which also stars debutant Veer Pahariya, Sara Ali Khan and Nimrat Kaur has raked in close to £8 million at the box office.
Aki’s ( – as those affectionately dub him -) most recent box office duds include a string of releases including, ‘Atrangi Re’ (2021), ‘Bachchhan Paandey’ (2022), ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ (2022), and ‘Selfiee’ (2023), and more recently, ‘Sarfira’ (2024).
The other major movie of January was Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Emergency’, which was initially slated for September 6 but got rescheduled because of delays by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Much was expected of this directorial debut of Ranaut, which released on January 17 after several controversies.
On day one, the movie managed to shore up a poor £233,000. Day two, a Saturday was an improvement with £336,000, Sunday was even better at £397,000. The following days were dismal and the latest box office figure of the film is about £1.7m.
in ‘Emergency‘
Ranaut plays India’s former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the film, which is her sixth consecutive flop. Since 2015, 10 out of 11 movies of the actor/MP have bombed at the box office.
While ‘I Love NY’ (2015), ‘Katti Batti’ (2015), ‘Rangoon’ (2017), ‘Simran’ (2017), ‘Judgementall Hai Kya’ (2019), ‘Panga’ (2020), ‘Thalaivii’ (2021), ‘Dhaakad’ (2022), ‘Tejas’ (2023) and ‘Emergency’ were all declared flops, ‘Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi’ (2019) did average business at the box office.
January 17 also saw the release of ‘Azaad’, which made headlines because it featured Aaman Devgan, the nephew of Ajay Devgn – making a guest appearance – and Raveena Tandon’s daughter Rasha Thadani.
Of course, the big names didn’t help at the box office.
The period drama collected just about £140,000 on day one. By the end of the week the Abhishek Kapoor directorial collected about £500,000, which now stands at slightly less than £1m.
Actor Sonu Sood’s directorial debut ‘Fateh’ hit theatres with much fanfare on January 10.
Sood even appeared on ‘Bigg Boss‘ to promote the film, but all the publicity and hype didn’t work when it came to box office numbers.
On day one, the movie made £243,000 at the box office. This was followed by £371,000 and £385,000 during the weekend; £1.77m right now.
January gave a new lease of life to Aki with ‘Sky Force’. The movie hasn’t run out of steam yet at the box office.
Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Deva’, which releases today (January 31), isn’t expected to give ‘Sky Force’ much competition – say industry watchers.
Ranaut’s misery continues at the box office. She has to look forward now to ‘Bharat Bhagya Vidhata‘ or an yet untitled film with R Madhavan, changing her fortunes.
Sood (still) has a lot in store. As for Devgan and Thadani, it’s just the beginning of the long road ahead.
We will be back as ever next month, till then, wrap up warm if you need to and see’s who’s up and down at the box office when it comes to Bollywood and what’s happening in the entertainment capital of India…