Box Office India Records

The box office has been back for two years now and now enough films have been released to get an idea of star positions post the pandemic. As far as female leads go Alia Bhatt is the undisputed number one being the main force driving for the success of Gangubai Kathiawadi Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani. She is probably the only female star who is a a box office draw and can carry a film alone. 

The box office numbers of films featuring Alia Bhatt have always been better in Mumbai city and Pune even when the content is more of a North type of film like 2 States or Raazi and this has continued with Gangubai Kathiawadi and Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani so when a heroine has a few places always outperforming it really helps at the box office though it will tougher ahead as these two centres are very unpredictable at the moment.

There are probably three other female leads that can be called stars today and they are Deepika Padukone, Kiara Advani and Shraddha Kapoor. So the ranking today is as follows and its difficult to put someone in fifth place as either no one is able to make much of an impact or other female leads don't hold the same value as before.

1. Alia Bhatt

2. Deepika Padukone

3. Kiara Advani

4. Shraddha Kapoor

There was a time when Deepika Padukone was well clear of the field but there were not many films towards the end of the last decade just before the pandemic and the attempts to succeed in films where the female lead is the driver did not work like Finding Fanny and Chhapaak. The last named was a huge downer just before the pandemic but Pathaan came post the pandemic and it probably undid some of the Chhapaak damage which was a mistake of epic proportions for a heroine like Deepika Padukone.. 

Kiara Advani had made huge strides just before the pandemic with films like Kabir Singh and Good Newwz and even in the pandemic had a blockbuster song Burj Khalifa and Laxmii (2020) which is probably still the only genuine HIT to be premiered on digital. The run continues post the pandemic and at the moment is that quintessential Hindi film heroine who fits well into all genres and is also able to pair up with most the leading male stars. In popularity with the youth she could actually be ahead of Deepika Padukone at this point of time.

Shraddha Kapoor is the fourth genuine female star today and actually should probably being doing better but there are so few films and this just not the case over the last few years but even now post pandemic it will be only two releases in around four years with Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar and Stree 2.  The popularity is there but films have to come to prove this.

After these four it would probably be names like Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Disha Patani. Katrina Kaif had Tiger 3 which did well and that is the zone she fits into well but there are very few films made like that. But the issue its difficult to slot her into that so called female content film zone unless its action genre but those films are also very less if any.

Kareena Kapoor has had Lal Singh Chadda and a television film but has face value and the talent still to work at the box office given the right film but obviously too many television films will dilute the equity as far as theatrical value is concerned which will only make box office success harder especially in a female led film.

Kriti Sanon was on a upward curve before the pandemic hit and just behind Alia Bhatt and Kiara Advani as far as the girls who made an entry in the last decade were concerned but post pandemic the audience has not been that kind with major duds and now its about whether this trend can reverse with the right films.

Disha Patani is similar to Shraddha Kapoor with so little work. There is some credit to go to her for the initial of Ek Villain 2 so there is some popularity there but again you need back to back films to reach that genuine star status.  

Generally there is dearth of popular heroines for the youth hero / heroine film as Alia maybe has become too big for this zone, Deepika will not pair well with the younger actors while Shraddha hardly does films leaving Kiara but with her run at the box office she will probably have the choice of the bigger films and there are four female stars who actually make a difference.

This makes it even more difficult to make that medium budget comedy./ action / love story as the younger male stars have not hit huge heights at the box office so you need a pairing with a popular heroine to make it a package to get that initial audience out but those heroines are limited in supply.

Kiara Advani had made huge strides just before the pandemic with films like Kabir Singh and Good Newwz and even in the pandemic had a huge blockbuster song Burj Khalifa and Laxmii (20200 which is probably still the only genuine HIT to be premiered on digital. The run continues post the pandemic and at the moment is that quintessential Hindi film heroine who will fits well into all genres and is also able to pair up with most the leading male stars. In popularity with the youth she could actually be ahead of Deepika Padukone at this point of time.

Shraddha Kapoor is the fourth genuine female  star today and actually should probably being doing better but there are so few films and this just not the case over the last few years but even now post pandemic it will be only two releases in around four years with Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar and Stree 2.  The popularity is there but films have to come to prove this.

Radhe finished with final overseas business of around $2.6 million which is a poor result allowing for the covid issues. The best result for the film has probably come in Australia considering it has finished only 35% less than the pre covid 2019 Eid release Bharat.

If we compare the other main markets with Bharat then the film is well short . The results would have been better in markets like US and UK if released now as these markets are improving day by day but still with the content not being for these circuits it still would not reach a level which can be called good.. 

The numbers from the main overseas markets for Radhe are as follows with the numbers of Bharat (2019) in brackets. All numbers in US$.

Gulf - $1,650,000 ($4,410,000)

Australia - $390,000 ($595,000)

USA - $300,000 ($2,972,000)

United Kingdom - $145,000 ($1,165,000)

Others - $125,000

TOTAL - $2,610,000

Radhe is one of the biggest Disaster in Overseas, specially when it released on festival like Eid.

Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai had a PVOD (Premium Video On Demand) released in India a couple of weeks back and the monetizing model proved to be a damp squib. This was not unexpected as the the way the film was priced up after it was certain there was no theatrical release pretty much showed that Zee was not actually expecting much.

The film fetched 180 crore for all rights and this price included all rights for two other films (Kaagaz and Antim - The Final Truth). If we add the promotion costs then the acquisition goes to the 185-190 crore range. The SVOD (Streaming Video On Demand) and Satellite rights were at 150 crore for the three films. This meant the rest was left for PVOD, Overseas theatrical, music and miscellaneous which is not much the cover.

The PVOD release saw Radhe cover around 10-12 crore in the first week and this included the audience who subscribed for the film and those who also subscribed for the Zee platform at lower costs. Most of the audience for the film came from premium subscribers who had the platform. With 10-12 crore covered in one week the lifetime would be around 15 crore which is under 20 crore nett if we look at it in box office terms. 

The returns from PVOD are a disaster if we look at from the point of recovery for a major film though what is good or bad from a new revenue model like this is an unknown until more films are there to compare though hopefully there will not be many big films which go this way as there is no recovery. If a smaller film goes this way and gets 15 crore it may not be too bad but the question there is can a smaller film actually do it and the the probable answer is no.

Radhe - Your Most Wanted Bhai will get a recovery of 35-40 crore from PVOD, Overseas theatrical and music which will take it to 185-190 crore and there will be a little from Antim to come with music possibly adding most. Kaagaz recovery is negligible from all sources. But again the problem here is the 150 crore from SVOD and satellite which has been shifted to sister companies like Zee5 and Zee TV which is just on paper and not actual recovery. The film may well cover 50 crore from satellite but the 100 crore value for SVOD is just a value and there is no chance of that sort of recovery from Zee5.