Decoding the box office failure of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The comments section of movie trailers has begun to succinctly predict what trade websites eventually do four weeks later. For anyone who bothered to watch the trailer of Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s latest film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, its tragic fate at the box office should come as no surprise.

For the audience’s reaction on YouTube to the trailer of Ali Abbas Zafar’s overblown actioner was premonition enough. One viewer wrote, “It’s like watching the whole movie. Thanks for saving my money.” Another commented, “I have been to movies where I could not stay beyond half-time, but this is the first trailer that I left at half-time.” A third quipped, “Saw the movie today! Bollywood never disappoints in disappointing us.”

Made on a whopping budget of ₹350 crore, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan has earned a dismal ₹45.55 crore (net) in India in the first six days. This paltry total is despite it getting an extended weekend because of Eid. The film, which also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, and Sonakshi Sinha, raked in only ₹15.65 crore (net) at the domestic box office on its first day.

This is the lowest premiere day India total among all the recent big-budget, tentpole, star-studded spectacle films cashing in on the hyper-nationalism prevalent in the country right now. Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan, which marked Shah Rukh Khan’s historic return to theatres after a hiatus of four years earned ₹57 crore. His next, Atlee’s Jawan, outperformed by raking in a massive ₹75 crore. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif’s Tiger 3 made ₹44.5 crore. Meanwhile, Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone’s Fighter collected ₹24.6 crore.

Who’d have thought that the coming together of two of Hindi cinema’s fittest, most-admired action stars would get such a lackluster response? I get the temptation. Not too long ago, the pairing of two superlative dancing stars, each representative of their generation, nimble and agile like flying cats, seemed like a fantastic idea. Did we all not lap up War? Watching Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff dance it out in Jai Jai Shivshankar was a high few songs have been able to match since. But, then, that was 2019. In the five years since, we’ve seen countless wars. The fatigue is real.

This outright rejection of Bade Miyan Chote Miya clearly shows that the audiences have had enough of fighters and jawans. The Hindi film industry is notoriously infamous for overworking templates and formulas until it makes cine-goers nauseous, unable to watch anything even remotely similar anymore. Sports biopics, crime thrillers, competitive exam-prep stories, and now mawkish, adrenaline-pumping, chest-thumping jingoistic trash parading as movies. If one film does well, it spells doom for the entire genre. You can rest assured that it will take more than a few gigantic flops for filmmakers to pull strings on the same old trite tropes.

Whether it be Karan Johar’s wholesome potboiler Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, Konkona Sen Sharma’s sharp, incisive short anthology film The Mirror, or Kiran Rao’s delightful Laapata Ladies, these films got the love, the attention, and the numbers that they did because they were clutter-breaking, topical stories that dared to go off route and offer a different experience to an audience fed up with guns and gore.

Rajesh A Krishnan’s Crew, starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon in lead roles, is the latest example of the sweet returns of risk-taking. The film, which also features Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma in lovely extended cameos, has collected an impressive ₹70.55 crore (nett) in India so far. With no major releases in April, thanks to IPL more than delivering to Indians their daily dose of entertainment, this total will most likely soar, expected to benefit from an uninterrupted run for the next two weeks.

Innumerable untold stories are waiting for their chance. If only our filmmakers stepped out of their clinical labs every once in a while to get some fresh air and, maybe, perspective.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow