Clash Of Titans At Box Office Is Avoidable

It's not good for the perpetually sick Hindi film industry. Yet again titans have decided to lock horns at the box office. Come the month of August, two powerful stars of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar, will battle it out at the box office with their films ‘Raula’ (tentative title) and ‘Toilet Ek Prem Katha’ respectively.

While Shah Rukh had announced the release date of his film with Imtiaz Ali well in advance, it is Akshay who has changed his film’s release date from 2nd June to 11th August. Khiladi Kumar seems in no mood to stop just there. After clashing with SRK in the independence day week in 2017, he is all set to clash with his best buddy Neeraj Pandey on the Republic Day next year as he will be releasing his next ‘Padman’ alongside Neeraj’s recently announced film ‘Aiyaary’, featuring Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee in the lead roles.

This is not the first time when two big budget films will fight it out at the ticket window. We have seen such clashes in the past also. The recent ones being ‘Raees’ –‘Kaabil,  ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ – ‘Shivaay’ and Bajirao Mastani – ‘Dilwale’ clashes. It goes without saying that these clashes never benefit the industry as warring films heavily eat into each other’s business and earn only half of what they could have earned if released on separate dates. However, the titans of the industry seem to be itching for such fights. Is it very difficult to sit together and rework on their films’ release date? If filmmaker Rohit Shetty can change the release date of his film ‘Golmaal Again’ to avoid clash with Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar’s ‘2.0’ during Diwali this year, then why can’t others do the same? Super stars seem to have super egos. 

If films continue to clash in 2017 as well as in coming years, it will further add to the woes of the industry.  We should not forget that the demonetization move of the Government has already scared off many investors who once used to pump in their money earned from politics, real estate and several other shady businesses into filmmaking. To top it all, the Government has put a cap on maximum cash transactions from an account. In this scenario a few will be willing to take risks by pumping in crores into the highly volatile business of making films and come under the scanner of tax collectors.

In the absence of cash inflow and the declining numbers of investors, Bollywood has begun to feel the devastating after-effects of demonetization. While other industries have emerged more or less unscathed, Indian film industry has been hit the hardest. One can easily count the number of films announced after 8th November 2016 on fingertips. There have hardly been any big announcements. Several big budget films which were announced with much fanfare, like ‘Paani’ and ‘Chanda Mama Door Ke’ have been put on hold. If 2016 saw the release of around 350 films, this year is going to witness a steep drop in the total number of films produced in Bollywood. The clash of titans will make things worse as the profitability of tentpole blockbusters will be severely hit. It will further shake the wavering faith of investors in film business.

Our industry has seen intense competition for the box office pie in the past as well. However, there was a willingness to work things out mutually to ensure the business didn't suffer. Competition can be beneficial but cut-throat and ego-centric competition is suicidal. It is time for the big guns and stars to realize that they must provide space to one another and act sensibly like good businessmen.