Shahrukh Vs Bhakts was successfully tested with Dilwale. Dilwale was the biggest release of 2015. It was a mega budget multi-starrer movie with Kajol along with Shahrukh Khan in lead role. Shahrukh and Kajol are considered one of the best on screen couples ever and have phenomenal success record under their belt. In addition to that ‘Dilwale’ was directed by Rohit Shetty, the director behind the super successful ‘Singham’ and ‘Golmaal’ Franchisees who also did the mega successful Chennai Express with Shahrukh Khan. ‘Dilwale’ was jointly produced by Shahrukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Shetty’s Rohit Shetty Productions. Red Chillies Entertainment had the exclusive cinema distribution rights in India.
So what happened to Dilwale with all these impressive names and brands backing it? It ended its run at the domestic box office with a collection of just under 140 Cr. Dilwale was a disaster as far as Shahrukh Khan’s impressive box office records are concerned. Although Shahrukh never called Bhakts one of the reasons behind the lacklustre performance of his movie, it is common knowledge that Bhakts did run an aggressive online campaign against Shahrukh and Dilwale.
Shahrukh Vs Bhakts fight started when the actor said in a twitter townhall hosted by none other than Rajdeep Sardesai himself:
“It is stupid… It is stupid to be intolerant and this is our biggest issue not just an issue…Religious intolerance and not being secular in this country is the worst kind of crime that you can do as a patriot,” he said.
About returning his Padma Shree – “I mean just for a symbolic gesture, yes, if I have to.”
Here is a link to the video – http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/there-is-extreme-intolerance-in-india-says-shahrukh-khan/1/513874.html
Our Columnist Jayesh Sharma correctly described Shahrukh Khan as The risk taker who stopped taking risks. He Salamnised himself to cater to a loyal fan base that applauded at whatever he did. And to be fair to the actor, he did try to break out of the tried and tested formula with Fan. But looks like Shahrukh Vs Bhakts is a tussle that will go on for some time. Also Bhakts are hell bent on destroying Shahrukh. And this is well evident from the dismal collections that Fan has registered on the Box Office.
Koimoi.com, a blog run by film trade analyst Komal Nahata mentions:
“The worst fear has come true, though the signs were there on Friday evening itself. Fan has gone down on Monday. The film collected only 6.05 crores more, which is a big fall from 19.2 crore that it had collected on Friday. With this, the film’s total stands at 58.40 crores.
The manner in which the film is performing, it now looks difficult for it to emerge at the top as far as the biggest Week One of 2016 is concerned. Airlift had collected 83.5 crore in its First Week while The Jungle Book collected 74.63 crore. While latter would be crossed, former looks some distance away.”
Shahrukh Fans may call Shahrukh Vs Bhakts an absurd theory but the results are for everyone to see.
Agreed that Fan was not supposed to be massy entertainer like Chennai Express but Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir fans don’t really look for the ‘type’ of the movie before swarming to the cinema halls. Unfortunately for Shahrukh Khan, the loyalty of his loyal fans seem to be crumbling with every release of his. It is the Bhakts who currently have the upper hand in the Shahrukh Vs Bhakts tussle.