The failure of few big budget films this year has led to a debate whether the stars should help cut down the losses suffered by the film’s distributors. Post the failure of Tubelight, Salman and Salim Khan had agreed to compensate distributors for their losses after evaluating the exact figures.
Supporting Salman's move, Ranbir Kapoor too had mentioned compensating the distributors of Jagga Jasoos, if the film failed. However, nothing was heard after Jagga Jasoos bombed. It's now Shah Rukh Khan who finds himself in the dock with his latest release Jab Harry Met Sejal struggling at the box office. The film barely made Rs50 crore nett in four days. Will Shah Rukh follow Salman's lead and ponder bailing out his distributors, NH Studioz? For the record, this is a second successive blow for NH Studioz after Tubelight.
According to industry source, owner of NH Studioz, Narendra Hirawat, has been trying to contact Khan but has not recieved any response.
‘I’ve heard that Narendra Hirawat ji had made several calls to Shah Rukh Khan on Tuesday but there was no response. Khan was said to have been in Delhi,” said in industry insider.
The actor was in Delhi a day before the release of Jab Harry Sejal for its promotions. On Sunday, he was spotted in Pune, where he stepped in to replace ill Aamir Khan at a state organised event on water conservation.
Jab Harry Met Sejal is Shah Rukh's home production and was made on a budget of Rs80 crore. Trade buzz suggest that film was sold to distributors (domestic and overseas) for over Rs100 crore.
As of Tuesday, 8 August, Jab Harry Met Sejal had bagged Rs53.75 core nett in its domestic collections, as reported by BoxOfficeIndia.com. The film is running in over 2100 screens in India.
A trade analyst requesting anonymity said, “Well, I haven’t heard anything regarding on it yet, but Shah Rukh Khan should cut down the losses suffered by the distributors. While Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma have acted well, there is no freshness in the story. It’s very difficult at the moment to gauge the losses, but for the distributors to recover their cost the film needed to make at least Rs.200 crore to recover its investment and expenses. At the moment it looks like, its lifetime (India) business will be about Rs60 crore, I think NH Studioz spent about Rs80-81 crore on the India distribution."
NH Studioz merely holds the theatrical rights in India. The distribution company is said to be finding it difficult to recover its basic investment for the film, leave alone making profits.
Akshay Kumar’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha will hit the screens this Friday that might further curb Jab Harry Met Sejal's earnings.