Salman Khan’s ‘Sikandar‘ was one of the highly awaited movies of the year but it missed hitting the bull’s eye as the opening day number was just Rs 26 crore. While this is a decent number, it was less when Salman is compared to his own movies which have done well in the past. Meanwhile, the film has continued to gradually slow down from day 3 itself and struggled to cross Rs 100 crore at the box office. The collection of the movie so far, according to Sacnilk is Rs Rs 104.27 crore. Clearly, the performance of the movie has left the industry shocked. ETimes discusses with film experts as to what went wrong with the film and why it failed to impress people.
Star power couldn’t save the film due to bad content
Everyone is unanimously opinionated about the fact that the content of the film had a huge issue and even Salman Khan’s presence could not save the film. Trade expert Taran Adarsh says, “I think the main factor that really did not work was the script, the content. The content was so weak that even the staff hour could not save it after the initial curiosity. You know, the first day was good, second and third day was Eid so it got the benefit of that but after that it just collapsed. The film had been going downhill. Look at the trend, the day-rise trend. You’ll see that it’s a shocking business from a Salman Khan starrer. Even Salman was looking not as finished form.”
Public opinion
Salman Khan movies have largely worked on the mass appeal. It’s the euphoria seen in single screens like Gaiety Galaxy which makes one feel the power of a Salman film. However, this is what the public at these theatres have to say. Manoj Desai, Executive Director of G7 multiplex (Gaiety Galaxy) and Maratha Mandir cinema told ETimes, “The film was a copy of some other film and the heroine was killed early. I haven’t seen a single frame of the film. But this is what the public has told me which I’m telling you. People would have gone for Salman but the pirated version which is freely available got leaked so people will watch the film there. Like, now because of OTT also, people have that attitude that we shall see the film at home.” Desai feels that due to several factors, the film wasn’t even worthy enough for people to flock to theatres even for Salman on the big screen.
The script and overall packaging
Movie Trade Analyst Taran Girish Wankhede says, “Sikandar was the most highly anticipated film of this year after Chhaava‘s super success because the spillover of January was handled by Pushpa 2, then the spillover of March was handled by Chhaava, which was released in the second week of Feb.So, after it steamed out, there was a need of another blockbuster in the end of March and this was the only anticipated film. Before that, there was ‘The Diplomat’, but it was not marketed properly, nor was there any excitement, so it was below average.”
Wankhede added, “The script was so bad that it was so paper-thin plot that people could not gel with it, and they could not relate, there was no strong content in it. Second reason was Salman Khan looked jaded, tired, and exhausted, and mostly he looked disinterested in the film, and that could be seen on the screen, so that was the second reason because of which Salman didn’t look as if he wants to act. What is wrong with this guy, we don’t know.”
Salman Khan fans disappointed
This time around, fans of the star were disappointed. Usually, even if the critics bash a film, it’s the fans who enjoy a massy film in theatres and save the movie. This time around, even fans were let down. Wankhede said, “Word of mouth spread so fastly and widely that there were no pauses. The first thing was there are always fans, the safeguard is film. In this case, even the fans were disappointed by looking at the content, so the reviewers as well as the critics as well as the movie-going audience. All had the same thing in common and that was the content. Even the fans were disappointed.”
Even the film’s music was not at par with the music of other Salman movies. Girish Wankhede opined that even the over-confidence of the producer is the reason for the film being a disappointment. Wankhede said, “Producer Sajid Nadiadwala thinks that if you get a great project by A R Murugadoss, whose)last two films were flop, even Akira was a flop. He is known for ‘Ghajini’ but the director is known by his last film. Murugadoss was not a great in his direction. When you have a combination of a star and a superstar director, you think that. But that is the problem with the producers because they don’t have the acceptability of the new ideas. And that was the main reason.”
What the industry must learn from this
Taran Adarsh says, “The biggest learning is that even with Salman, we need to take our content seriously. The star power alone cannot save the film. Star power and content go hand in hand.” Wankhede echoes his sentiment and adds, “What we learn is we learn that even a superstar can’t save a badly written script. If they are choosing a script of this inferior quality, obviously people won’t take it. Secondly, you can’t take your stardom for granted. You are a superstar. We respect that and we love you. But what we need to have is great content. We need novelty even in a superstar film. What Shah Rukh Khan has reinvented and re-evolved himself, that is not seen in the case of Salman Khan. He has been doing the same tried and twisted formulas with the same lobby, which is not working. So people need to go to cinemas for a greater reason. (5:44) And that reason could be a great cinema. That means great script.”
