Kill/Dill fails to make a killing

Kill/Dill failed to make the expected box office killing on its opening day.

Govinda's first film in five years, this romantic action flick from the Yash Raj stables raked in Rs 6.5-7 crore (net after entertainment tax) on the day of its release -14 November. The collections have fallen short of the trade expectations, which were in the range of Rs 12-13 crore.

The film also marks the return of Shaad Ali, who shot to fame with his 2002 romantic film Saathiya, to the director's chair after seven years. Ali's last outing - the 2007 musical-romance Jhoom Barabar Jhoom starring Amitabh Bachchan - had also failed to make a mark at the box office.

Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar and Paineeti Chopra also star in Kill/Dil.

"The film's box office performance is below par compared to Ranveer Singh's last two films. But going by the cost of the film, it could be considered an average opening. Overall, the film will have better chances at multiplexes. With word-of-mouth publicity though, it should show some growth on Saturday followed by Sunday. But it is unlikely to be a significant growth," said Suniel Wadhwa, independent distributor and box office analyst.

However, others believe that word-of-mouth publicity could also go against the movie. While it opened to around 65 per cent occupancy in the morning shows, the evening and nights shows' occupancy dropped to around 55-60 per cent on an average.

Another analyst agrees that the movie may pick up over the weekend, but too much damage may have been done by the negative word-of-mouth publicity and reviews that the movie has received.

"When you compare the Kill/Dil to something like Haider, which had a lower screen exposure and was decidedly niche, the former has performed below average. It was marketed as a masala Bollywood film and targeted the youth - one of the biggest sections of the movie going audience - and still could not break into double digit crore on the opening day. This could mean trouble for the film's lifetime (collections)," the analyst adds.

For Kill/Dil to recover costs at the Indian box office, the movie needs to collect at least Rs 80 crore (net after tax). Analysts peg the movie's lifetime collection to hover in the range of Rs 35-37 crore, which would mean significant loss for the studio. Even then, the movie's final financial tally will have the producer end up with losses.

This would be the fifth Yash Raj Films venture in 2014 to have fallen short on box office performance. Earlier this year, the studio released Bewakoofiyaan (starring Aayushman Khurana and Sonam Kapoor) and Daawat-e-Ishq (with Aditya Roy Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra), which did not break-even at the domestic box office level. Even the Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor starrer Gundaay did not recover money at the Indian box office. The same fate was met by the Rani Mukherjee-led Mardaani. However, in case of Gundaay, Bewakoofiyaan and Mardaani, the studio moved into the green after considering the revenue from sale of satellite and music rights.

But in the case of Kill/Dil, as with Daawat-e-Ishq, things look bleak even after considering the ancillary revenue streams.

YRF was also the distribution partner for the Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone Diwali release Happy New Year. The studio's investment on the movie is around Rs 125 crore, reveal industry sources. The movie has amassed Rs 202 crore in net box office collections till date and another Rs 90 crore in overseas collections. This means YRF's share of the total collection (total around Rs 292 crore) would come up to Rs 138 crore. Thus, the studio has made close to Rs 13 crore profit on the movie, according to industry estimates.

However, considering that Happy New Year was not YRF's original production, it is understandable that the studio's profits on the movie were restricted. While the cost of acquiring the movie is high, given the scale and star-cast, the satellite and music rights of Happy New Year continue to reside with its producer - Red Chilies Entertainment.