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Roohi Box-Office Prediction: Will this Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao film revive the soul of show biz?
Here's how we think this Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma horror comedy will fare at the box-office on it's opening day. Detailed pre-release analysis.
The cinema owners across India are finally seeing a ray of hope in the Hardik Mehta directed Roohi, featuring Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma in lead. The Dinesh Vijan production is gearing up for a theatrical release on March 11 with his studio partner, Jio Studios, targeting a release at approximately 1500 properties across India. The movie has a runtime under 2 and a half hours, which will ensure a maximum of 4 to 5 shows a day per screen taking the average show count across India in the range of 6000 shows per property, which is a wide release for the horror comedy.
The theatrical trailer, unveiled on February 16, fetched 3.4 crore views on YouTube, whereas the two songs, Panghat and Nadiyoon Paar got a favourable response with 6.9 crore and 6.4 crore views respectively. The songs have tracked well on other mediums like music apps, FM radio and even the television, giving the film a holistic exposure on digital world. On the Savn app, Panghat managed to get 37 lakh listeners whereas Nadiyoon Paar too got over 17 lakh streams. The music and the trailer have been received well by the audiences in the digital world.
The theatrical trailer, unveiled on February 16, fetched 3.4 crore views on YouTube, whereas the two songs, Panghat and Nadiyoon Paar got a favourable response with 6.9 crore and 6.4 crore views respectively
However, the Covid impact was visible as some cinema owners in the interiors, not having the digital exposure, have raised concern about the lack of awareness. The uncertainty factor too has had it’s game play with audience not too sure about it being a “theatrical” release or a “digital” release because of the missing on-ground activities as also the billboard and poster campaign in the city streets and cinema halls. The posters from cinema halls were missing because there isn’t really any audience to watch films before Roohi, so it was more of an overhead for the producer, whereas the cost of billboards too is an expensive preposition and had the film got pushed due to unfavourable covid scenario, the producers would have to face a massive burden of marketing expense. The covid has had its impact even in the pre-release game as far as the buzz on ground is concern, but these are testing times, and every film would be a learning for the following one.
If not for Covid, Roohi was well poised for a Rs 6 crore plus opening, given the star-cast, packaging, the Stree connect and the reception to trailer and music, but with the pandemic still here, reduced occupancy at some key markets, it’s an uphill task to put a number to the opening of Roohi. But analysing the market, anything in the range of Rs 1.75 to 2.50 crore would be considered a respectable opening given all the opposition and challenges. The film might see some walk-ins through the day in the mass belts due to the holiday of Maha Shivratri. The hope right now is to expect decent to good word of mouth from the audience as that would result in collections picking up over the weekend, taking the four-day total closer to the double-digit mark.
Analysing the market, anything in the range of Rs 1.75 to 2.25 crore would be considered a respectable opening given all the opposition and challenges.
If Roohi manages to touch the 10-crore mark through the weekend, it would be a big win for not just the team of this horror comedy but the entire industry, as that would put out a statement that audience is indeed stepping out to watch a feature film in cinema halls and with a constant flow of releases, the habit of big screen entertainment will be cultivated again in the weeks to follow. It’s the first major release in Hindi over the last year, and one wouldn’t really put an undue pressure of unrealistic numbers on day one and weekend, but we hope it attains a respectable total getting the cycle back in motion again. The wait and watch game begins.
ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Dinesh Vijan opens up about Roohi, Stree 2, Munjha, Bhediya and his horror universe
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