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Ranbir Kapoor's Shamshera is YRF's 4th flop in a row: Here's what experts think went wrong
Ranbir Kapoor's Shamshera, though promised a lot, in terms of content and execution, ultimately failed at its Friday test. Despite the film boasting a cast which had Ranbir making a comeback and Sanjay Dutt taking up the mantle of the baddie, nothing seems to have worked for the YRF production. Now, trade experts privy to industry trends opine on what could have gone wrong.
Shamshera is YRF's 4th flop in a row
Filmmaker Karan Malhotra recently took to social media to address the failure of Ranbir Kapoor starrer Shamshera at theatres. The YRF production, touted to be one of the most expensive films made, crashed at the box office with a whimper, failing to collect even basic recovery costs. Naturally, a disheartened Malhotra, known for such stellar films like Agneepath, revealed how he thinks Shamshera is 'majestic' and how he 'could not handle the hate and rage' following the film's failure. Shamshera’s total box office collections stand at Rs 36 crore after six days.
And while it may be an extremely personal slight for Malhotra, Shamshera not doing well at ticket windows is part of a larger narrative that seems to have been plaguing Yash Raj Films for quite some time now. So much so, if you take a closer look at the line-up of YRF in the last few years, all four films that were released, starting with Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan starrer Bunty Aur Babli 2, followed by Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj and most recently Ranbir Kapoor’s comeback venture in Shamshera crashed and burned at the box office.
In an interaction with Zoom Digital, film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh said, “These were pre-pandemic films that were planned and executed for the pre-pandemic audience. However, during the pandemic, the requirements from films for movie-going audiences have changed. They want content more rooted in Indian culture, wholesome entertainment films."
According to Adarsh, starting from Bunty Aur Babli 2 to Jayeshbhai Jordaar and even Samrat Prithviraj, all did miserably at the box office. However, Shamshera faring poorly came as a shocker. “It has Ranbir Kapoor who makes his comeback after four years, it is being directed by Karan Malhotra, the man behind Agneepath – it cannot go wrong, on paper. But somewhere down the line, it did not translate into box office numbers. It absolutely did not resonate with the audience.”
Producer and film business analyst Girish Johar too had a tête-à-tête and on the very onset mentioned that YRF has, with all humility, taken into stride everything that has been said about Shamshera, adding that the fact that the production house decided to stick to their principles and wait for a theatrical release, instead of shifting to OTT speaks volumes about them.
“They kept the faith intact in the box office,” said Johar, adding, “During the last two-three years of the pandemic, the films got shuffled around and everything went for a toss. At the end of the day, no one can guarantee whether a film will succeed or fail. Some of the biggest films got stuck in the pandemic and they are coming out now – when audience preferences have seen a shift. It was just a string of bad lucks.”
“The audience taste has completely changed in the last two to three years,” he opined, adding, “People are not just liking these mammoth films. They have already seen RRR and KGF, and these (Samrat Prithviraj, Shamshera) are delayed films. It is just bad luck and bad timing.”
Film trade analyst Akshaye Rathi similarly said that films that have recently released from Yash Raj were largely conceptualised and executed in pre-pandemic times.
“Between then and now, the pandemic has resulted in a changed consumer pattern. People have become a lot choosy about their time, money for what is worth spending in theatres,” he stated.
“I sincerely believe that with a premium production house like YRF, which truly has its skin in the game, it is only a matter of a few months till they really get it right. There is no way they can afford to let this continue. And all the movies they have started after the pandemic, be it Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan or Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, will be done with a lot more thought put into the new norms of consumption patterns,” he signed off.
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