Bunty aur Babli 2, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Samrat Prithviraj and now with its 4th post-lockdown release, ‘Shamshera’ failing, has Yash Raj Films lost its grip on the box-office it once ruled?

Ever since the cinema halls reopened after the second wave subsided around the Diwali of 2021, Bollywood has been trying hard to get back on track. While the box-office is seeing a good response from the moviegoers, this fire can largely be attributed to the newly developed craze for south cinema and also, the big banner Hollywood releases.

Some exceptional Bollywood productions like ‘Sooryavanshi’, ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ also did manage to achieve decent numbers. However, it is films like Pushpa, RRR, KGF, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, Batman that saw a good time at the theatres and grossed a hefty number at the box-office.

Movies like ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’, ‘83’, ‘Badhai Do’, ‘Bachchan Pandey’, ‘Jersey’, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’, ‘Anek’, ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, and so many more failed miserably at the ticket window. So much so, that all of these weren’t even able to collect the break-even money.

Here is a little anecdote- out of the above listed films that were commercially unsuccessful at the box-office, 4 have the banner of Yash Raj Films (YRF). Basically, all the films released by YRF post-pandemic have tanked. The last film that YRF released before the pandemic was War (released in October 2019) and it did wonders for the banner grossing over INR 475 crores gross worldwide.

Post that, the first production to be released by YRF was ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ in November 2021. A spiritual sequel to the 2005 cult film ‘Bunty aur Babli’, this one starred Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Siddhanth Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh in the lead roles. Along with a starry ensemble, the film received mixed reviews and had a decent element of dramedy. However, it could only collect a worldwide gross of INR 21.6 crores. Made on a budget of approx. INR 45 crores, it lagged way behind the costs.

Following up, it released the second from its production, the much anticipated Ranveer Singh starrer, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordar’. Honestly, the film in itself was very poorly made and it received the reviews it deserved. Made on a budget of approx. INR 86 crores, it could barely collect INR 16 crores at the box-office.

Then came the third release, an even more anticipated and a high-budget period film, ‘ Samrat Prithviraj ’, starring Akshay Kumar, Manushi Chillar and Sonu Sood. Mounted on a big budget of approx. INR 175 crores, it was only able to manage a worldwide collection of INR 85 crores at the box-office.

And latest in the line to tank is the Ranbir Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Vaani Kapoor starrer ‘Shamshera’ which is also a high-budget period drama made on a budget of approx. INR 150 crores. It is Ranbir Kapoor’s first movie post-lockdown and also his on-screen appearance after a four-year absence since the 2018 film, ‘Sanju’. It is also the first time that Ranbir Kapoor is doing an action film. It received a very underwhelming  start on the opening day, collecting around INR 10.5 crores only while the expectations were double. The first weekend (F,S,S) collection is totalling to approx INR 32 crores which is also much below par. Given the buzz around Ranbir Kapoor and the overall hype and sentiments regarding this film, YRF was expecting it to do wonders for it. However, the first weekend graph shows that the film will slow down drastically in the very first week and its lifetime worldwide collection can be expected to be somewhere around INR 75-85 crores gross leaving the producers with a deficit of roughly INR 80 crores when compared against the budget.

Above were the anecdotes, but the real question is WHY is it so that all the YRF movies have tanked at the box-office? Albeit breaking even, the films saw a tough time even recovering 50% of its budgets from the ticket window. Let’s analyse the possible reasons behind this disaster.

1. Lagging Data Indicators

Lagging data indicators are indicators based on historical or past data. The first reason why all of YRF’s films have been through this storm is that all of them started production in 2018/2019. The films were based on lagging data indicators i.e., the makers considered the likings, preferences, public sentiments of 2018 and 2019. Then there was an unfortunate gap of 2 whole years which entirely changed the content consumption patterns and likings of the audiences. Having gotten an exposure to world cinema and global content through the OTT platforms in the pandemic, the audiences are now massively evolved and are not easy to pull into anything below the mark. Had these films released in 2020 or even early 2021, they would have done a much better business. 

2. Pre-CoViD Budgets

There is a saying that goes- “Films don’t go wrong, budgets do”. Post-pandemic, producers have become really mindful about the budgets that they mount their films on keeping in mind the theatrical business that a film can achieve. YRF, on the other hand, went all out with money and made these high budget decisions back in 2019 hoping that the theatrical recovery will be easy. And…BOOM! Pandemic played spoilsport.  

3. Out of comfort-zone films & relatively new directors & faces

YRF’s forte has always been romance and drama. However, this time it seems to have shifted focus on genres like historical biopics, and period action-films. Also, the recent batch of directors namely Varun Sharma (Bunty Aur Babli 2), Divyang Thakker (Jayeshbhai Jordar), Chandraprakash Dwivedi (Samrat Prithviraj), and Karan Malhotra (Shamshera), are relatively new directors with only a couple of films to their credits. More often than not, the director’s name plays a big role in pulling the crowd to the cinema hall which is also evident from the success of Rohit Shetty’s ‘Sooryavanshi’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’. Not only this, YRF is also introducing a lot of fresh talent to the industry. It was the Bollywood debut of Manushi Chillar in ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, Sharvari Wagh in ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’. Shalini Pandey, a relatively lesser known face in Bollywood, starred opposite Ranveer Singh in ‘Jayeshbhai Jordar’.

4. Less theatrical window and availability on OTT

With the invasion of OTT platforms, the audience is preferring to spend only for the “big-screen” experience. This means that if the film doesn’t have this value-add, it is likely that the audience will prefer watching it on digital rather than going to the theatre. What aids this attitude is also the fact that the film will be available on the OTT platforms within 30 days. So, the audience doesn’t even have to wait for long. If the first reviews aren’t extraordinary enough to pull people in the theatres, they might as well not turn up as the film is anyway available to them in a few days. ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ and ‘Jayeshbhai Jordar’ failed miserably owing to the fact that these weren’t the “big-screen” films and started to stream on OTT post 30 days of their release. However, as per a Money Control article, this window of 30 days is going to extend to 60 days starting from 1st August. This means that the producers can allow the OTT to stream their films after 60 days of run at the box office. This will bring some relief to Bollywood who is currently trapped with just some 30-45 days of box-office window.

5. Marketing

We live in times where Marketing is something that cannot be neglected. Producers have to get old-school again and use aggressive marketing strategies that they used back in the day (2010 to 2019). The films that have done substantial business are the ones that took the fullest of Digital Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Outdoor-Media marketing, and not to forget the old-school marketing strategies of hoardings, premieres, star-cast going on city tours etc. For ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’, and ‘Jayeshbhai Jordar’, there weren’t any notable campaigns or substantial efforts towards marketing the film which in turn is visible in the results. However, YRF pulled up its socks and did all it could to market ‘Samrat Prithviraj’ and ‘Shamshera’ in the available time.  

6. Music

Again, YRF has been known for giving Bollywood the best of its songs. Rather, Bollywood music is defined by YRF’s songs. However, it is sad to note that none of the aforementioned YRF releases had great soundtracks or even some pathbreaking songs. Had the music been successful, the films would have automatically gained traction.

All in all, not only YRF but Bollywood at large have been having a tough time at the box-office and only time will show how and when it will be able to recover the lost ground. I personally feel Shahrukh Khan’s Pathaan, which is also YRF’s next release from the pipeline, will be the film that will revive the dead YRF. SRK and YRF have always been an unbeatable combination and this duo coming together post Jab Tak Hai Jaan will be something to look out for. Also, this will be SRK’s first film after a hiatus of 4 long years. Fans have been waiting hard to see him on the big screen and hopefully, it will be worth the wait. And on a lighter note, if Pathaan also doesn’t work- YRF should probably think of bringing back the Dhoom duo- Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan back together in Dhoom 4.

Note: Box-office collection numbers and budgets are as per the data on www.boxofficeindia.com and as posted by Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh. Please note, for ease of comparison of the box-office numbers against the budget, gross numbers have been taken into account. Usually, the Net Collection, which is calculated after deducting the exhibitor’s share and taxes, is shared by the Producer and Distributor. Furthermore, other revenue streams i.e. Satellite, Digital and Music have been ignored.