Brahmastra HIT or FLOP: Public verdict is out in the open. The Ranbir Kapoor-starrer mega budget film, Brahmastra, is failing to make its end meet. Despite the fact that it is alone in the race, it is struggling miserably to attain pace and recover its losses. Evidently, the movies released last week were virtually from low-budget, no PR, no star-cast categories. Yet, Brahmastra’s PR failed to pull audiences to the 70 mm screen. Even before the Brahmastra team could stabilise its dwindling ship, its miseries were only on a rise.
Brahmastra nearing its theatrical end
After facing the wrath of disgruntled cinema lovers and repeated clamour of Boycott calls, the Bollywood cabal had pinned all their hopes on the fate of Brahmastra. It was presented as if it would do a miracle for the nosediving image of the Hindi Cinema industry. They all started making a spectacle out of it. Heavy numbers started floating all over media portals giving a thumbs up for the movie. However, all of those rosy prophecies fell flat on their faces. After a below anticipated collection of Brahmastra in the opening week (~168 Crores), the ‘magnus opus’ stagnated in the 2nd week (~57 crore).
Also Read: From Rumi to Shiva – The unique journey of Brahmastra
As per Bollywood Hungama, the Brahmastra lifetime domestic collection clearly demonstrates that it will fail to cover its investment.
Timeline | Estimated Revenue |
Release day (First Friday) | Rs 36 crore |
End of First Weekend | Rs 120.75 crore |
End of Week 1 | Rs 168.75 crore |
End of Week 2 | Rs 222.30 crore |
Lifetime Collection | Rs 232.55 crore |
Also Read: 800 crore disaster: PVR and INOX pay dearly for hobnobbing with Brahmastra
The number of shows and screens for Brahamastra were on a steady decline. This was evident from low occupancy throughout the second week. The sharp decline in the second week clearly demonstrated that the artificial buzz has faded and fatigue factor has started to creep in for the PR team that was trying its best to throw big numbers and record shattering statistics.
However, while Brahmastra was gasping for air, it got shot in the arm on the 15th day. Its collections spiked a little and it collected around Rs 9-10 crore on the third Friday. The Brahmastra collection was crawling in the Rs 200 crore club.
Also Read: Presenting to you, Bollywood’s first 200 crore Flop
#Brahmastra collects ₹ 9 cr nett on its 3rd Friday which is the highest of all time for a hindi film and only second to #Baahubali2 ( 10 cr ) ..
Film 15 days total stands – ₹ 237 cr nett ( All Languages) and it will comfortably cross ₹ 250 cr nett from here on.. pic.twitter.com/WdXw7e1ZeS
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI) September 24, 2022
National Cinema Day was a silver lining in the dark clouds
It will be intellectual dishonesty to present the 15th day collection as a revival for Brahmastra. Apparently, the Hindi Cinema Industry was celebrating National Cinema Day on 23rd of September (15th day of Brahmastra release). The ticket prices were slashed (Rs 75 for movie ticket) substantially to pull crowds and celebrate the long historic ties of Cinema and audience.
Although Bollywood is facing the heat of boycott trends, the audience has been showering love and affection on quality content as and when Bollywood releases content-oriented movies like Chichore and Tanhaji among others. On National Cinema Day, the audience gathered in large numbers to celebrate this aspect and relive some happy moments with theatre and its unique vibe.
Brahmastra capitalised on this audience’s love for Cinema and the historic day. The film made a new record for selling the most tickets on a single day. Notably, every movie enjoyed a bumper business courtesy of national Cinema Day celebrations.
Bollywood famous trade analyst, Taran Adarsh credited this response to National Cinema Day, 2022. He stressed that Bollywood movie tickets are overrated, overpriced and needlessly hyped. So, it is high time that ticket prices are slashed to increase footfalls as controversial deeds of Bollywood have estranged audiences from Bollywood.
The tremendous response on #NationalCinemaDay2022 should act as an eye-opener for Studios / distributors / exhibitors and the film fraternity in general about the importance of *affordable ticket rates*… IT'S HIGH TIME WE SLASH TICKET PRICES TO INCREASE FOOTFALLS. pic.twitter.com/ZbycVqKmJp
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) September 23, 2022
The Director of ‘The Kashmir Files’, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri gave his take on the slight recurrence of Hindi Cinema on National Cinema Day. He advised Bollywood to do less wastage on PR and focus more on content that is India centric.
1. Less price. Less arrogance. Less star fees. Less wastage on PR & airport looks.
2. More research. More content. More Bharat.
Simple solution for Bollywood’s resurrection. https://t.co/0317SpQYai
— Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) September 23, 2022
Also Read: “I’m a big beef guy” comes to haunt Team Brahmastra as Ujjain shows them the door
The challenges for Brahmastra will only mount from now onwards. The last week was an open field for it as it had no major challenger but things will change now. Sunny Deol starrer ‘Chup’ has hit the theatres and it is getting great reception from the audience and critics alike. Moreover, the ticket prices will come back to normal and the Brahmastra team boasting of a slight blip in its collection will realise the meaning of one day wonder.
Moreover, Bollywood cabals beating their chest calling Brahmastra a success should remember a few things. First, it was made with an investment of Rs 410 crores. Its domestic collections are in the mid Rs 200 crore club and it is estimated to end amid this club itself. Second, it had 9000 screens worldwide but it could not garner great numbers. So, with reducing screen counts, its daily revenues will only tank till it fades out or new releases like Vikram Vedha crush it emphatically. Notably, The Kashmir Files initially received only 630 screens. Made with a budget around 20 crores, it did a lifetime business of Rs 300 crore in India.
So, Bollywood cabals should shun the urge to fool citizens by throwing big numbers. Nobody is going to fall for it now. The Bollywood media houses calling Brahmastra a blockbuster hit are the same coterie who think that they can trample talent with their nefarious agendas and PR hit jobs. Bollywood’s own media houses are showing the glaring truth that even after extensive PR, Brahmastra has failed to collect its investment. It will end only in the Rs 200 crore club and if they want to rejoice it even then that’s good for them. This arrogance to not pay heed to the audience feedback and do things as per their nefarious agendas will leave them with nowhere to go and more parts of Brahamastra will meet the same fate.
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