The battle is heating up as ground is set and swords are out! Both much anticipated releases are set to scorch screens on 11th August on Rakhi holiday and 4- day extended weekend will be followed by huge Independence Day national holiday.
Aamir Khan starrer Laal Singh Chaddha is facing some massive hurdles – boycott threat from section of audience/netizens, longer run time of 2 hour 44 minutes, remake of such a cult Hollywood film. But then film has biggest USP which is Aamir Khan himself as he comes once in 4-5 years and guarantees high quality spectacle to audience.
On the other hand, Akshay Kumar starrer Rakshabandhan has shorter run time, apt release on Rakhi festival and mass family appeal to it. But then Akshay Kumar starrer is clashing with probably the biggest film of the year.
Both films have pros and cons. Advances started on Friday and now we have clear trend by Sunday evening of what is going to unfold.
The advance of Laal Singh Chaddha is very similar to 83 not just in the numbers but also it too has huge response from urban high end multiplexes and metros. Laal Singh Chaddha should get an advance of 8 cr nett plus and maybe it even becomes the first original Hindi film to cross 10 cr nett which will be an unbelievable result considering post pandemic trends. Right now Delhi and South are leading by distance for LSC. As per trends right now, film is bound to open around 17-19 cr nett day one which will be fabulous result.
Raksha Bandhan has had a low advance and is probably heading for that 3 crore nett mark pre release but if we take out Mumbai and South and other high end multiplexes then the gap between this film and Laal Singh Chaddha is not that much. The advance of this film will be better than films like Bachchhan Pandey and Samrat Prithviraj even though it has less initial value than those films but the holiday period is probably helping. Rakshabandhan will heavily depend upon same day admit and it can cross 11-13 cr nett figure based on that but at the moment, film is heading for 8-10 cr nett opening day.
By Wednesday we will have the clearer picture but it seems that no surprise is in the store as both films are trending on expected lines. Content and word of mouth will decide final outcome post opening day but opening day numbers are almost decided.
