Filmgoers nationwide are expecting a mouthwatering clash at the box office soon. Rajkumar Hirani’s comedy-drama ‘Dunki’ starring Shah Rukh Khan will hit the marquee on December 21, followed by Prashanth Neel’s action thriller ‘Salaar: Part 1 Ceasefire’ starring Prabhas which is releasing on the next day. Prabhas’ fans believe the Rebel Star’s ambitious film will outperform SRK’s offering. SRK’s followers are sure that nothing can stop ‘Dunki’ from becoming the third successive Rs 1000 crore film for King Khan.
The contest between these two eagerly awaited films will begin in December, although neither should slow down before next year. Regardless of the race’s outcome, one thing is clear. After the brilliant box-office performance of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s action drama ‘Animal’, Bollywood could not have asked for a more promising release than ‘Dunki’ in the last month of 2023.
Last year was a nightmare for the Hindi film industry. Rohit Shetty’s comedy-drama ‘Cirkus’, a December 23 release, disappointed critics and also the average viewer in the first few days. The film was a box-office bomb, a verdict few had anticipated before its release. But then, ‘Dunki’, which is arriving in the movie halls two days before the Shetty film did in the last month of 2022, has given rise to far greater expectations.
It is made by Hirani, who has a reputation for delivering well-made commercial successes. The film is releasing at a time when viewers go to theatres in large numbers – if a film is appreciated by those who watch it during the first weekend. Most importantly, the film’s highlight is SRK, the leading megastar of the modern-day Hindi film industry.
SRK fans might insist that he has been instrumental in reviving the average viewer’s enthusiasm for watching Hindi films in the theatres. Ayan Mukerji’s action-adventure film ‘Brahmastra: Part I – Shiva’, the highest-grossing film last year, earned an estimated Rs 431 crore worldwide. Because of its reported budget of around Rs 375 crore, ‘Brahmastra’ was not the sort of commercial success a film made on a relatively small scale would have been. Moreover, it might have had a better box-office score if it had been released at a time when more viewers were stepping out of their homes to watch larger-than-life Hindi films in the theatres instead of waiting for their release on OTT platforms.
The only big surprise of 2022 was Vivek Agnihotri’s ‘The Kashmir Files’, a social drama woven around the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their home state in the 1990s. ‘The Kashmir Files’ gave rise to controversy, which attracted both kinds of filmgoers – those who saw it as a much-needed depiction of a suppressed reality and others who dismissed it as pure fiction. A small-budget blockbuster, TKF grossed an estimated Rs 340 crore worldwide.
When 2023 began, nobody had imagined that the Hindi film industry would deliver not one but two Rs 1000-crore films starring the same leading man. That happened, starting with Siddharth Anand’s action drama ‘Pathaan’, a smartly packaged film with a not-so-great story in which SRK returned to the big screen in the protagonist’s role after more than four years. The film’s phenomenal success was an indication that audiences were prepared to watch larger-than-life entertainers with good music, good-looking stars (SRK, John Abraham and Deepika Padukone) and well-choreographed action sequences. The undisputed highlight, of course, was SRK, who made an emphatic statement of his undiminished appeal and silenced a handful of doubters who might have believed that audiences would not accept him as an action hero.
While ‘Pathaan’ hit the big screen on January 25, writer-director Atlee’s action drama ‘Jawan’, a September 7 release, was an even bigger success story. Widely popular for his work in commercial Tamil cinema, Atlee proved he could woo Hindi film audiences with the second SRK release of the year. ‘Jawan’ was loved for several reasons, including music, action sequences, writing and acting led by SRK in the dominant central role. Viewers gravitated to the theatres in large numbers and it eventually went past ‘Pathaan’ to become the highest-grossing film this year.
The difference between ‘Dunki’ and the last two SRK films is that ‘Dunki’ is not an action film. Moreover, the top five highest-grossing films of the year are actioners: ‘Jawan’, ‘Pathaan’, ‘Animal’, Anil Sharma’s period action-drama ‘Gadar 2’ and Maneesh Sharma’s action-drama ‘Tiger 3’.
The trailer suggests that SRK’s character in ‘Dunki’, at least for a significant part of the film, is as relatable as a next-door neighbour one might have known in real life. This character, along with a few others, decides to take an illegal route to go abroad. A social film that seemingly deals with the desires and desperation of a group of individuals, its only challenger is ‘Salaar’, a generously budgeted actioner, written and directed by Neel, the man behind the two KGF films. Can the SRK starrer beat the Prabhas-fronted film at the box-office game of numbers? It is quite possible because of Hirani’s command over his craft and SRK’s matchless appeal.
The writer, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
Opinion | Why ‘Dunki’ Can Be The Reason For A Perfect Year-End Celebration For Bollywood
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20.12.2023
Filmgoers nationwide are expecting a mouthwatering clash at the box office soon. Rajkumar Hirani’s comedy-drama ‘Dunki’ starring Shah Rukh Khan will hit the marquee on December 21, followed by Prashanth Neel’s action thriller ‘Salaar: Part 1 Ceasefire’ starring Prabhas which is releasing on the next day. Prabhas’ fans believe the Rebel Star’s ambitious film will outperform SRK’s offering. SRK’s followers are sure that nothing can stop ‘Dunki’ from becoming the third successive Rs 1000 crore film for King Khan.
The contest between these two eagerly awaited films will begin in December, although neither should slow down before next year. Regardless of the race’s outcome, one thing is clear. After the brilliant box-office performance of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s action drama ‘Animal’, Bollywood could not have asked for a more promising release than ‘Dunki’ in the last month of 2023.
Last year was a nightmare for the Hindi film industry. Rohit Shetty’s comedy-drama ‘Cirkus’, a December 23 release, disappointed critics and also the average viewer in the first few days. The film was a box-office bomb, a verdict few had anticipated before its release. But then, ‘Dunki’, which is arriving in the movie halls two days before the Shetty film did in the last month of 2022, has given rise to far greater expectations.
It is made by Hirani, who has a reputation........
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