The opening of Phillauri
is another proof how female centric films struggle for a start at the box
office. Phillauri grossed 3.50-3.75 crore nett apprx on its opening day and
This Figure also came because of the presence Diljit Dosanjh. East Punjab circuit
did huge business, if it was a normal East Punjab the film would not have even
collected 3 crore nett.
Only two films Mary Kom
(Priyanka Chopra) and Heroine (Kareena Kapoor) have crossed the 5 crore nett
mark. The initial of these films was also not good when released but they look
much better now compared to what has happened after. Heroine was 2012 and Mary
Kom 2014 but with higher ticket rates the numbers of these films are not being
reached.
There is always news of
disparity in pay between actors and actresses in the film industry but actually
its not as bad as what happens in other industries. In other places, even
results may not change the disparity but in the industry results will change
all. If in the list below there were films which were taking in 12 or 15 crore
nett on day one, there would not be this talk of disparity. The main reason
given for the disparity is the chauvinistic ways of the industry and in some
ways there is chauvinistic behavior in the industry but the pay disparity is basically
because of the results below. If the numbers below change, the pay disparity
will also change.
Some of these films
eventually put up decent lifetime numbers but that will not change the
disparity in pay, it will be the opening day numbers. There is no film going
close to 10 crore nett (taking real Mary Kom value) and 10 crore today is not
really a good start unless its under 1500 screens. If the opening day numbers
start coming in double digits then the pay cheques can also be double digits
but until then its going to be a 5-6 crore cheque on a good case for actresses
in the Hindi film industry.
Those Days are long gone
when Actresses like Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor emerged Number One
position without working with Top Stars of that time. Today no actress can
actually emerge big star without working with Big Male Super Stars. We have
seen this in last 10 Years be it Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone
or Anushka Sharma.
Below are the top opening
days for films with actresses as the main face value of the film. The list does
not include films where the USP is sex or horror as its the genre at work
there. Also does not include ensemble cast films like The Dirty Picture or Tanu
Weds Manu Returns which have other known faces.
1. Mary Kom -
8,32,00,000
2. Heroine - 6,82,00,000
3. Jai Gangaajal - 4,45,00,000
4. Akira - 4,30,00,000
5. Jazbaa - 4,23,00,000
6. Neerja - 4,13,60,000
7. Phillauri - 3,60,00,000 (Approx)
8. Highway - 3,47,00,000
9. Mardaani - 3,40,00,000
10. No One Killed Jessca - 3,22,00,000
Note - Mary Kom was tax
free in Maharashtra on release and and adjusting the figure would give 7.43
crore as a value for the nett number. It still remains on top but with a lower
gap between Heroine.
The biggest female stars
of the day Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone do not have any films in the above
list but if you look at the numbers of their films which were not exactly
driven totally by the them as had other faces but are pretty close then they
don't make good reading also. Fitoor released earlier this year had a opening
day of 3.43 crore nett and Finding Fanny had 4.23 crore nett in 2014. Even
putting in Piku for arguments sake makes no difference as it opened to 5.17
crore nett.
