The India box-office numbers of Laal Singh Chaddha show that it has been written off by the audience. Is the film so bad or is it due to other factors or both? This article analyses the possible reasons that might be behind the disappointing India box-office of Laal Singh Chaddha.

Laal Singh Chaddha starring Aamir Khan is the official Indian adaptation of the classic & multiple Oscar winning 1994 film, Forrest Gump. This was one of the most anticipated films because, one, it is an Aamir Khan film. Two, it marked his comeback after a hiatus of four years with his last big screen film being the 2018 film, ‘Thugs of Hindustan’. 

Honestly speaking, in my opinion, I have watched both Forrest Gump and Laal Singh Chaddha and of course there is no way anything can overtake a classic like Forrest Gump. However, if you look at Laal Singh Chaddha independently, it is not that bad as is being claimed by the mass. It is still far better than a lot of Bollywood films that are released in the theatres. But the box-office numbers show otherwise.

Released on 11th August 2022, on the Indian festival of Raksha Bandhan, it grossed merely INR 11.70 crores on its opening day and thereafter declined heavily despite the Independence Day holiday long weekend factor. The collections second day onwards looked like this- Friday INR 7.26 crores, Saturday INR 9 crores, Sunday INR 10 crores, Monday (Independence Day) INR 7.87 crores. The five-day total of Laal Singh Chaddha stood at INR 45.83 crores. To put this in perspective, the 1st day box-office of post-pandemic release KGF2 was around approx. INR 50 crores (Hindi Version). 

Laal Singh Chaddha is made on a budget of approx. INR 180 crores, it will see a hard time even breaking even at the Indian box-office window. As I write this article, it is day 8 since the release and the film has just crossed INR 50 crores of gross revenue. As per the trend, the film’s lifetime India box-office total might wrap up at approx. INR 65-70 crores. Given Aamir Khan’s popularity in China and abroad, it might earn just as much as the India collections and the producers might get a little sigh of relief from the overseas collection.

That said, the box-office for sure is disappointing. Now why is that? It is an Aamir Khan film shot across stunning locations in Indian and has an Oscar winning story. Let’s analyse the possible factors that might have caused this disaster.

1. Disregarding the Mass

All that masses want today and are ready to go to the theatres for is a big-screen entertainer. They want to keep the emotional, dark and intellectual content to enjoy on the small screen at leisure. All they want is grandeur, songs, action and larger than life, over the top cinema! This has been pretty evident from the success of Pushpa, RRR and KGF. Laal Singh Chaddha fails to command the mass. Being very slow, philosophical and off-beat, Laal Singh Chaddha is meant for only a certain type of consumers. Consumers who appreciate arty cinema. And, it isn’t Laal Singh Chaddha’s fault either. Almost all Oscar winning movies have been off-beat and meant only to cater a niche audience. Laal Singh Chaddha’s low ‘Entertainment Quotient’ might have hampered the single screens, tier-2, tier-3 cities’ revenue. 

2. Clashing with another film, Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha Bandhan’

In the post pandemic times, when revenues are as it is not up to the mark, releasing a film against another is the worst idea. It not only gives you less screen count, but also gives the audience an option to choose their comfort. People are hardly coming out to see movies, and in this scenario, if they walk away from your content to another, they are definitely not coming back to the theatres the same week or month for your film. By then, it will already be on OTT and they’ll prefer watching it there. Also, the makers released it against a big-banner production, ‘Raksha Bandhan’. Akshay’s fan following is substantial and the fans might have used their savings for this outing over Laal Singh Chaddha. Had Laal Singh Chaddha been released in isolation, it would have easily grossed INR 20-30 crores more than the current gross.

3. Not an original concept

No matter how monumentally Laal Singh Chaddha might have drifted away from the original while changing the context to India, in the end, the fact is that Laal Singh Chaddha is not an original concept. A lot of people who have seen Forrest Gump and are ardent fans of the film, won’t will to spend money on something similar. And trust me, Forrest Gump is a CLASSIC, and its fans are innumerable.

4. Marketing

I cannot stress enough on this point. Spending 10 bucks on marketing will give you 100 for sure. Laal Singh Chaddha did start off well by premiering the trailer during the IPL finals. However, post that, the efforts were minimal. 

5. ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend

However little the dent must have been due to this; a dent is a dent. Netizens initially went mad over some comments Aamir Khan had made in the past. This eventually converted into a wildfire. People then went crazy and wild behind entire Bollywood and the kind of content it is making. This is still very much trending and people are now targeting Taapsee Pannu’s Dobaara, KJo’s Bramhastra, and SRK’s Pathaan. A large chunk of population who is serious about this, might not have visited the theatres causing harm to the numbers.

That’s my view on Laal Singh Chaddha’s India box-office. What’s your review and is there any other reason why you feel it might have not done the numbers?

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.