Brahmastra had a successful second weekend and has surpassed The Kashmir Files as the biggest Hindi hit of 2022 with over Rs 360 crore in the worldwide collection. With this, some say that the Boycott gang is a bit upset after the tremendous success of Brahmastra. So what’s the reality? And did the boycott gang really fail? Let’s find out.
Brahmastra hit or flop
There have been lots said, written, tweeted, and discussed about Brahmastra Part One- Shiva’s performance at the Box Office. Ayan Mukerji’s film has, as per its own producers, earned Rs 360 crore in gross BO collections worldwide. These are of course insane numbers, the highest for any Hindi film this year, in fact.
Despite a fair box office performance, there are many who are unwilling to label the film a hit. To them, the highlight is the film’s massive Rs 410-crore budget. It sounds logical- how can a film be called a hit unless it recovers the investment?
The budget becomes very important in deciding if a film is a hit or flop. Trade analyst Atul Mohan explains to the Hindustan times, “The budget does play an important role in defining a film’s success at the box office. A film needs to recover its landing cost with its nett earnings at the box office to be called a hit. If it does less, it can be called anything from below average to flop, depending on how much less it has earned. Similarly, how much more it earns as compared to its budget determines whether it’s a superhit or a blockbuster.” If simply put, a film needs to have at least Rs 1 of recovery to be called a hit.
Nevertheless, Brahmastra did outstanding business in the metropolises, and even the mass belts appeared to have contributed to the film’s performance at the box office. The trend is expected to continue in the coming days with a dip during weekdays and business picking up over weekends. With no big film releasing till Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan comes out at the end of this month, Brahmastra has a long window at the box office to maximize its earnings.
Did the boycott gang really fail?
Coming to the Boycott controversy, Brahmastra was earlier attacked even prior to the film’s release. Videos of actor Ranbir Kapoor, who is playing the protagonist in the movie, surfaced where he said he was a beef-eating guy. This attracted a lot of criticism. To add fuel to the fire, the Hinduphobic tweets of Dharma Productions’ Development Executive Shreemi Verma also went viral on social media.
In spite of all the boycott campaigns, Brahmastra doing good business has led to several people pinning their hopes on the movie’s success for the revival of the theatrical Hindi film industry. But is it a real hit?
In the present scenario, Brahmastra is not a hit yet, regardless of what most sites may want to label it. It may become a hit film, given that it is still making money. But whether it does so or not depends on what its production cost actually is, which is a closed secret. The makers will definitely want everyone to think it is a success and we might never know the exact numbers. But what maintains the truth is that the film, despite the boycott campaign, has managed to bring the audience to the theatres, just not as much as it would have desired.
People may like or dislike a movie for numerous reasons, but, a particular film may attract audiences because of other aspects such as its visual work, star cast, or music. At times, the audience also may just want to look at their favorite stars on the big screen.
