BLEAK DIWALI AS RAM SETU AND THANK GOD UNDERPERFORM
The grand Diwali releases – Ram Setu and Thank God – were released on Tuesday, October 25. A lot of expectations were riding on them but sadly, looking at the collections on the first two days, Ram Setu as well as Thank God seem to have underperformed.
Ram Setu, starring Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez and Nushrratt Bharuccha, was the bigger film. The hype was limited but due to Akshay’s presence and festival period, it was able to open at Rs. 15 crores. Incidentally, we had predicted last week that Ram Setu will open in the range of Rs. 15 crores. The word of mouth was mixed. While the film’s concept and climax were appreciated, the film was slammed for its script and lack of logic. As a result, the film dropped to Rs. 11 crores on day 2, though it was a holiday. The collections for Thursday are expected to be around Rs. 8 crores. In other words, the three-day collections are around Rs. 34 crores. The drop on day 4, Friday, will indicate if Ram Setu will be able to cross the Rs. 100 crores mark.
Thank God stars Sidharth Malhotra and Rakul Preet Singh, with Ajay Devgn in a supporting role. Its response was also mixed. The film’s first half seemed slow to many viewers and there were reports that some even walked out in the interval. The second half has got a fairly positive response due to the climax and the sizzling song ‘Manike’. Yet, the overall feedback is that the film is not bad but not too good either. Such kind of word of mouth has kept viewers away from theatres.
We had stated in last week’s edition that Thank God will open between Rs. 7 and 10 crores. And as expected, the film opened at Rs. 7.50 crores on its release day. On the second day, it dropped to Rs. 5.75 crores. If it has collected Rs. 4 crores on Thursday, it means it’ll collect Rs. 17.25 crores in 3 days. At this rate, it seems nearly impossible to even cross the Rs. 50 crores mark.
What’s unfortunate is that Thank God and Ram Setu are collecting such numbers during festival time. It was released at a great time and had the advantage of a six-day weekend. The trade and industry are wondering if the collections are poor in the holiday time, how will the film fare on the weekdays.