Box-Office Prediction: Will Toilet: Ek Prem Katha End Bollywood’s Misery?
Akshay Kumar is returning to the box-office after a gap of six months with Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (TEPK). Based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the movie is riding on a very positive buzz. Adding to the same, TEPK will be marked tax-free in all BJP ruled states, meaning lower ticket rates, attracting more and more audiences to the theatres. The trailer and songs of TEPK have been received well by the audience.
Having a huge Independence Day weekend benefit in its kitty, TEPK will have a 5 day window to perform at the box-office. Looking at Akshay Kumar’s track record, his consistency with the box-office numbers is very certain. Also, the low budget of Rs 18 crore will be a huge bonus for the makers associated. The film has been aggressively promoted and the topic of ‘Open Defecation Free India’ has made TEPK the talk of the town.
Keeping everything in mind, TEPK is expected to open to the lines of Rs 12-13 crore on Friday (11th August). Escalating in to the extended weekend, the film is supposed to get a jump of over two folds on 15th August (National Holiday). Saturday (12th August) might show a decent jump, while Sunday (13th August) will remain strong. With Tuesday being a holiday, the film is expected to maintain good footfalls on Monday (14th August), as the evening and night shows will have excellent occupancy.
Most of the film’s collection will depend on word of mouth and reviews. We have seen Tubelight, Jagga Jasoos, Raabta, Jab Harry Met Sejal tank at the box-office because of poor reviews and negative word of mouth. Good reviews will shoot up TEPK collections even further and we may be looking at a 5 day total close to Rs 65-70 crore.
TEPK will face no competition from Jab Harry Met Sejal, as audiences have already bailed out on the film. Mubarakan is holding well, but that’s only because of the poor performance by JHMS.
Made at a very controlled budget, TEPK will not face any issues in raking decent profits, but the real task for the Akshay Kumar starrer is to keep the sinking Bollywood ship afloat. For Bollywood, TEPK will be much more than a box-office money spinner, it will rather be about restoring audience’s hope. If TEPK fails, it will all come down to the last quarter’s big holiday releases. But, when we will look back at the year 2017, we will see a big dent in the reputation of the biggest film industry of the world.
