Devara to bring little cheer to Hindi box office amid dry spell of new releases

High expectation from Telugu version of Devara.

South superstar Jr NTR who delivered his biggest pan-India hit in 2022 RRR may not be able to create the same magic with his new release Devara that also features Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor.

Exhibitors have little expectations from the Hindi version of the film due to the low buzz in the Hindi-speaking belt for the movie. The film has been released in five languages including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam.

While an exhibitor from Andhra Pradesh said that there is a huge response for Devara and that he is looking forward to a good crowd in his cinema, Amit Sharma, managing director, of Miraj Cinemas said that in Hindi-speaking belts the response is lukewarm.

"Devara is like any other release in Hindi so the majority of collections will be from Telugu-speaking markets. If you see the difference in demand, if I sold 25,000 tickets in Telugu-speaking centres of my cinema chain then for Hindi I just sold 250 tickets," he said.

According to Sharma, Devara is not comparable with Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Kalki which did good business in Hindi-speaking markets. Its Hindi box office business at Rs 227 crore was marginally higher than the Telugu version at Rs 225 crore in 39 days of its run in theatres. The film went on to do over Rs 1,000 crore worldwide business.

Producer and film trade expert, Girish Johar expects Rs 100 crore worldwide for Devara with maximum collections coming from Telugu version of the movie.

It is estimated that as much as 80 percent will come from the Telugu version and the movie is expected to do Rs 72-78 crore on its opening day in India including the Hindi version of the movie. While Devara is expected to emerge as the second biggest opener for an Indian film after Kalki which opened at Rs 93 crore, the box office will be concentrated in markets like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. For the movie's longer run, exhibitors said that the Hindi version needs to do well at the box office.

"Southern and overseas are strong but Hindi is below par. While metros will be below par for the Hindi version, there are some expectations from tier II, III markets for Devara. Advance booking sales for the southern market is ballistic and has touched an estimated of Rs 50 crore," Johar said.

Housefull shows

Advance bookings for Devara have exceeded expectations, especially in Telugu-speaking markets, said Devang Sampat, Managing Director, Cinépolis India.

"We received special approval to begin shows at 1 AM on release day in Andhra Pradesh, and theatres were sold out within minutes of the bookings opening. The response has been overwhelming, and we're optimistic that the film will perform exceptionally well, particularly in key markets where anticipation is high," Sampat added.

Sharma is also seeing housefull shows for the opening day of Devara.

"Telugu centres are sold out. Saturday (Day 2 of Devara's release) also is Telugu heavy. So, whatever comes in Hindi we see it as a bonus because there is not much expectation in terms of how the movie will shape up in Hindi-speaking markets because there was not much marketing for the film," the Miraj Cinemas MD said.

Hindi box office a concern

For the Hindi-speaking audience, Stree 2 and Tumbbad will continue to hold the fort until the Diwali clash of Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. After Stree 2's release on August 15, no major new Hindi release has hit the theatre. Since then older content has been bringing audience to theatres with the re-release of the 2018 movie Tumbbad on September 13 recording strong collections.

Stree 2 recently achieved a significant milestone with 25 lakh footfalls across Cinepolis theatres in India, solidifying its position as the top film in terms of admissions, noted Sampat.

"Tumbbad will be among top films including new releases. In my cinema chain alone, the film did over 1.25 lakh admissions, higher than Mr and Mrs Mahi, Crew, Deadpool, Srikanth, Maidaan among others. It will surpass Chandu Champion and Bad Newz as well. Stree 2, Kalki, Munjya are the top three films in terms of admissions," Sharma said.

Johar said that the dominance of Hindi language this year has weakened and it needs to make a strong comeback.

A horror show

The India box office business for the first six months is down 7.5 percent versus last year, according to data by media consulting firm Ormax.

"This year has been worse than the pandemic so far. If you look at footfalls, pandemic versus 2023 there was a loss of 20-25 percent. However, this year it is 20 percent down versus 2023. So, footfalls are down by 45-50 percent versus pre-pandemic level. This year has been a horror story so far," Sharma said.

He added that the biggest issue exhibitors are facing post-pandemic is that whenever there is a success then the movie becomes biggest and breaks records. "Also, there has not been a steady flow of releases. After Eid there was a long break then after Stree 2's release there has not been any major release in Hindi. If there is a mid to large budget film every 15 days then the box office momentum keeps on going. The problem happens when there is a dry spell," he added.

A mixed year

It has been a mixed year for the industry, Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta A2 Cinemas.

"We’ve seen some great successes, like Stree 2, but it’s true that certain releases haven’t performed as expected," he added.

Diwali releases should cover up the losses recorded so far, said Johar.

Sampat expects the year to close on a strong note with releases like Singham 3, and Pushpa 2 scheduled during the festive period.

"From October onwards especially post Diwali, there will be a mad rush especially on the programming front. Programmers will not have breathing space. Diwali has two major releases so we are sorted for two weeks at least. Then I have high expectations from Kanguva in the North market," said Sharma.

He is counting on films like Baby John, Telugu-language movie Game Changer during the Christmas weekend.

"We will be able to do good (box office) numbers from the festive period onwards. Next year onwards also I think things will shape up well for the cinema business. In the next 5-7 years especially in North India, we will see never before box office numbers because of the kind of new content coming up," Sharma added.