Trade Talk: Salman’s Eid film opens to an underwhelming box office

The shockingly low box office figures of Salman Khan’s new release Kisi Ka  Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (KKBKKJ) has sent shock waves across the film industry. 

Was Pathaan a freak blockbuster? Or is the audience in no mood to please Bhai on Eid and would rather stay home to watch Amazon Prime Video's stunning true-crime docu-series Dancing On The  Grave? Patrick Graham’s Dancing On The Grave is actually a dance on the grave of Bollywood. Rarest of rare, is what this docu-series is.

Salman’s film also falls into the ‘rarest of rare’ category, although for all the wrong reasons. It is the first completely anarchic mainstream Hindi byproduct or should we say Bhai-product. Of late Salman Bhai has done some pretty chaotic films. His only non-mediocre works in recent times are Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

KKBKKJ scrapes the bottom of the barrel. The film, if one may call it that, is abysmally short of fresh ideas. There is no evidence of a directorial intervention anywhere in this bhai-product.

It’s a free-for-all experience. And Bhai’s team knew it. All preview shows were cancelled a week before release. Contrary to what was reported, there was no celebrity screening scheduled of  KKBKKJ on Thursday evening. And no, Salman Khan did not cancel the screening in deference to Mrs Yash Pam Chopra’s death.

All shows, including the screening for family and friends, were put on hold till Friday morning when the film was released.

Early indications are, KKBKKJ will be a huge setback for the film industry and another blow to Salman’s stardom. He must work with better directors. And he must stop ghost-directing his films.