By now, it is clear to all that ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ is a tight slap to those who thought they could serve anything in the name of entertainment. Rejected outright by the audiences, the film has been that rare example of a Hindi movie crossing 100 crores and yet not succeeding at the box office. As of now, despite the overall collections of some Rs. 240 crores worldwide, Thugs of Hindostan is a certified disaster.
In fresh trouble for the producers, the theatre owners who had removed most of the other movies in order to accommodate the slots for the mega starrer movie, have now demanded a refund of their hard earned money lost to poor attendances. They’re not wrong, because as of now, the film has not even managed to cross Rs. 150 crore in terms of domestic ticket sales. Despite a bumper opening of Rs. 50 crore on the opening day, ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ went only downhill, thanks to poor word of mouth from both the critics and the masses.
To quote an anonymous exhibitor who spoke to Mid Day, “As is the practice with YRF, the studio had taken on the distribution responsibilities. The exhibitors agreed to the minimum-guarantee deal as they expected handsome profits from the big-budget film, but the tables have turned. So, we are planning to approach the sub-distributors [YRF] to get a refund. We hope YRF, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan will help us in this situation; else there is a possibility of a few theatres having to even shut down.”
Trade analyst Akshay Rathi confirmed the same, as he talked about the situation to Republic TV. To quote him, “……..Yes there seems to have been an attempt from exhibitors to ask YRF for some kind of compensation, either for this film or for any future films from them. B and C centers, single screens have been more affected and have suffered a heavy loss.”
The exhibitors are not wrong in hoping so, since of late; there has been a practice of actors compensating exhibitors with money from their own pocket. Be it Rajinikanth, who did so with Lingaa, or Salman Khan, who did so with Tubelight, or even Shah Rukh Khan, who refunded the exhibitors for losses on his last movie, ‘Jab Harry met Sejal’.
However, if we look at some of the past incidents related to the film, we do have our own doubts. Some of the theatre owners and trade analysts have alleged that in order to save their face, the makers of ‘TOH’ allegedly manipulated the contributors. Following are some of the allegations made against the makers:-
#ThugsofHindostan had a 55-60% fall on day-2 . Had a talk with many distributors & Exhibitors all reporting same. Even @boxofficeindia tweeted it & gave distributors opinions on the same today. Never expected this kind of manipulation from such a reputed banner. SAD https://t.co/hAJSxx0DrL
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI) November 9, 2018
Theatres empty everywhere…
50-60% Drop in Early Morning & Morning Shows…
40-45% Mat, Evening & Night Shows…
As per current scenario #ThugsOfHindostan can’t cross even 25 Crores But still makers will gave 30+ Crores… Manipulation at its peak.
— BOLLYWOOD BOX OFFICE (@Bolly_BoxOffic) November 9, 2018
Anythng abv 25cr will be Non Digestible today….
40-45% Drop for Mat & Eve Shows
60% Drop for Early Morning & Morning Show…Still Huge…Considering WOM…
A Golden Opportunity WASTED…#ThugsOfHindostan
— Rohit Jaiswal (@rohitjswl01) November 9, 2018
Also, it seems that the makers of ‘TOH’ aren’t taking any kind of criticism for their project lightly. While some of the parody tweets were removed at their behest, the makers allegedly went on to even sue a parody song creator, Salil Jamdar for his parody on the entire issue, as stated by the singer cum comedian himself:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO99PrHJNJ4&t=57s
As such, if the producers fail to compensate the aggrieved exhibitors in time, ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ will be the prime example that not only conned the masses, but also them who took the risk of releasing it in the theaters.
