A successful movie does not necessarily have a large budget. Consider the films Zero by Shah Rukh Khan, Tubelight by Salman Khan, Saawariya by Ranbir Kapoor, and Brahmastra by Alia Bhatt. A compelling story, however, is the only thing that increases the likelihood of financial success, especially if it deals with a subject that is dear to the audience. This is certainly what will make Om Raut’s upcoming mythological epic Adipurush have a successful opening weekend at the box office. Trade analysts predict that the picture, which reportedly cost Rs 500 crore, will be well received by viewers primarily because it is a reworking of the Hindu epic Ramayan.
The Telugu actor Prabhas plays King Raghava in the upcoming movie Adipurush, which will be released in theatres on June 16. Raghava battles the wicked Ravana (played by Saif Ali Khan) with the aid of the vanara army in order to rescue his wife Janaki (played by Kriti Sanon) back from Lanka. Expert in the film industry Taran Adarsh claims that his infatuation with the Ramayan, which he watched on television as a child with his entire family, is the main reason he will be viewing the movie.
“For me, the most important thing is not Prabhas, Kriti Sanon or Saif Ali Khan. For me, it is Ramayan, and it is a very strong emotion. Everything else is secondary,” he added.
The advance sale for Adipurush began on Sunday. Since then, rumours have circulated that it broke Pathaan’s pre-release booking record. However, Taran denied such claims, claiming that despite the movie selling a respectable amount of tickets, it is not on par with Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan. He mentioned while speaking to Indian Express, “The organic number of the tickets sold is yet to be known. At the moment, it looks like it is going to take a good start”.
Abhishek Agarwal, the director of The Kashmir Files, Ranbir Kapoor, and Ananya Birla each purchased 10,000 tickets to be given to impoverished members of society. Other celebrities are doing the same.
Adarsh says the generation that watched Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan on TV will watch Adipurush for the nostalgia factor. believes many parents will take their kids for the film to educate them about Hindu mythology.
Film producer and trade analyst, Girish Johar stated, “People will take their kids for the film because in a long time, nothing has come based on Ramayan. Earlier, we lived in a joint family, where grandparents narrated this story. But now everyone is in a nuclear family, and every parent realises the importance of telling the story. So, they might go not just for entertainment, but also to inculcate mythological values in their kids. Unless it is extremely bad, people will lap up the film. It is a larger-than-life extravaganza and it is telling the epic tale which every Indian household knows. So, I am sure parents will take their kids at least once and this will give a big push to the film.”
“It’s a true pan-India film where the directors and the makers are from the North, but they have taken a big South star in the lead role. Prabhas has a huge fan following and I peg the film’s Hindi version to have an opening of anywhere around Rs 15-18 cr. The film will be among the top ten openers of all time in all languages. It can touch Rs 50 cr plus for sure in all languages,” he estimated.
Over one lakh tickets have already been sold through the national movie theatre chain PVR, with 25% of those sales occurring in the southern regions. “We have received an overwhelming response to the pre-bookings of Adipurush to be released in 5 languages – Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. We have already crossed over 1 lakh bookings out of which over 25% have been from the southern states except for certain regions.”
Through its distribution, OTT, and satellite rights, Adipurush has partially recouped some of its production costs. The producers have already made Rs 270 crore from the distribution rights, claims trade analyst Ramesh Bala. According to a report, the film’s OTT and satellite rights were acquired for a staggering Rs 210 crore. It is yet unknown how much money will be made from ticket sales.
