The box office took a beating last week, with new releases ‘The Great Indian Family’, ‘Sukhee’ and ‘Expend4bles’, all failing to make a splash. All eyes are now on this week, with two intriguing films from different genres set to hit theaters.
‘Fukrey 3’ stars Pulkit Samrat, Richa Chadha, Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh and Pankaj Tripathi. Ali Fazal, who was also cast in the first two parts, is missing this time. The film was originally scheduled to release on December 1. The makers had planned to shift to avoid a clash with the biggie, ‘Animal’. They speedily grabbed the September 28 slot once ‘Salaar’s makers decided to shift from the date. ‘Fukrey 3’ now enjoys a five-day weekend as it releases on a Thursday, which is a partial holiday due to Eid and Ganesh Visarjan. Monday, October 2, is a National Holiday on account of Gandhi Jayanti.
As a result, ‘Fukrey 3’ has a golden chance to score. The first part, ‘Fukrey’ (2013) was a sleeper hit, collecting Rs. 34.86 Crore, though it starred newcomers. The sequel, ‘Fukrey Returns’ (2017), was a surprise, as it had a huge opening of Rs. 8.07 Crore. Thanks to great word of mouth and the popularity of the franchise, it ended up collecting Rs. 77.90 Crore. Hence, due to the brand value, hype and great week, trade and industry are hoping that ‘Fukrey 3’ can cross the Rs. 100 Crore mark. It is expected to open at around Rs. 10 Crore. If all goes well, it’ll end up collecting ‘Fukrey Returns’ lifetime in its first week. However, if word of mouth is poor, the collections might drop even before the end of the extended weekend.
The other major release of the week is ‘The Vaccine War’. It is directed by Vivek Agnihotri, who delivered the blockbuster, ‘The Kashmir Files’ (2022), last year. As the title suggests, it is a story of how India managed to produce an effective Covid-19 vaccine. The film marks the return of Nana Patekar to movies. Besides Nana, ‘The Vaccine War’ also stars Pallavi Joshi, Raima Sen, Sapthami Gowda (of ‘Kantara’ (2022) fame) and Anupam Kher.
The makers showed the film in many cities in the US and also to certain sections in India. The response has been very positive. However, the buzz for the film is very limited. ‘The Kashmir Files’ had generated a lot of curiosity due to the controversial subject. That kind of intrigue value is missing when it comes to ‘The Vaccine War’.
‘The Kashmir Files’ opened at Rs. 3.36 Crore. ‘The Vaccine War’ might open in the same range. If the reports are positive, it’ll see a jump and emerge as a profitable venture for the makers.
