Ash's Jazbaa hits movie halls

Experts believe the movie will have a better run at multiplexes

Audiences last saw Aishwariya Rai-Bachchan’s Sofia D’Souza in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzarish back in 2010. The former Miss World returns to celluloid this Friday in Sanjay Gupta’s action thriller Jazbaa, playing the lead alongside Irrfan Khan. The film is a remake of Korean film Seven Days (2007), which had a successful run at the movies. While there is palpable anticipation for the movie, Bollywood has not seen mixed responses to female actors’ comeback film. Sridevi’s English Vinglish (2012) hit the right notes and saw success at the box office, not only in India, but also overseas. However, films like Dangerous Ishq (Karisma Kapoor), Aaja Nachle! and Gulaab Gang (Madhuri Dixit) failed to make a mark.  

Suniel Wadha, independent distributor and box office analyst, feels the main issue is the lack of women-centric scripts thus far and identifying the niche that such scripts would occupy. In addition, the costing of such films need to be done keeping in mind the size of this target group and the pockets the audience resides in.  “The challenge is that woman-oriented films don’t always have mass audience appeal. They, however, do well at multiplexes which end up contributing more than 70 per cent of the business for these movies. Sridevi’s English Vinglish was a huge success at the multiplexes too,” he explains.

English Vinglish, co-produced by R Balki and Eros International, collected Rs 40 crore (net after tax). However, the film was made at a budget of Rs 15 crore, which meant that the producers made significant profits.

Jazbaa also marks the debut of Sachiin Joshi as a producer through his entertainment venture Viiking Media and Entertainment. Joshi says, “Jazbaa is a content-driven film with a powerful script. We are releasing it globally, that is why we even showed a glimpse of the film at Cannes Film Festival, as the film has international appeal. The same would also be released in various languages.”

Jazbaa, co-produced by Sanjay Gupta’s White Feather Films, Shubhash Chandra’s Essel Vision and Viiking Media and Entertainment. Its cost of production is estimated at Rs 25 crore and prints and advertising cost is estimated at Rs 10 crore, taking the total cost of the film to Rs 35 crore.

Besides multiplexes, it is expected to make around Rs 10 crore from satellite rights as well. Wadha concludes, “Audiences are looking forward to Aishwarya's  comeback film so success of the film is on her shoulders as well as those of the captain of the ship Sanjay Gupta to deliver a good content, especially since his last film Shootout at Wadala was an average fair at the box office. Irrfan Khan, being a versatile actor, will draw audiences to the cinemas and important part sleek trailer has enough ingredients to attract movie-goers.”

The film is expected to open with an occupancy of 40 to 50 per cent across the 1,500-1,700 screens it is being released on Friday, which is to be expected since it is not a holiday.

In a nutshell:

Cast – Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi and Jackie Shroff
Cost (total) – Rs 35 cr (approx)
Number of screens released in in india – 1500-1700
Produced by – White Feather Films, Essel Vision and Viiking Media and Entertainment Limited
Satellite revenues – RS 10 cr (approx)

Source: Suniel Wadhwa