Why Shahrukh Needs the Film to be a Blockbuster
The team of Chennai Express has been going full-steam-ahead promoting the film for the past month. It’s impossible to walk anywhere in India or even channel-surf without coming across a poster of Shahrukh and Deepika on a train or hearing “One Two Three Four, get on the dance floor!” On paper, the team behind the movie – directed by Rohit Shetty (the Golmaal trilogy, Singham, Bol Bachchan), produced by Gauri and Shahrukh Khan, starring SRK and Deepika Padukone in their first film since 2007’s Om Shanti Om, music by perpetual hit-makers Vishal & Shekhar – practically sells itself. So why go all out on the promotional side, and risk turning off potential viewers with a marketing overload?
Because Shahrukh Khan badly needs a hit.
Well, that statement may be a tad misleading. King Khan’s recent films haven’t exactly flopped. Last year, Jab Tak Hai Jaan opened to packed audiences in India and abroad (it was the top-grossing Bollywood movie of 2012 outside of India) and ultimately grossed over 2 billion rupees worldwide. A year earlier, Khan had the one-two punch of two highly anticipated films: superhero epic Ra.One and crime thriller Don 2. The former performed reasonably well – exact figures vary, but the film grossed around 145 crore theatrically and an additional 132 crore from pre-release sales of satellite and music rights, among other things – but the film’s astronomical budget and marketing costs meant that its profit margin was actually quite slim. Don 2, on the other hand, cost a relatively low 70 crore to produce and grossed over 235 crore at the box office.
That Khan’s films will be financially successful goes without saying. It’s a safe bet that Chennai Express will open to huge box office numbers this weekend and become one of the year’s top-grossing releases. He’s the biggest superstar in India, if not the world. So why does he need a “hit” so badly? Because, frankly, none of those films were particularly well-liked by audiences.
Last year’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan was blasted by many fans and critics for its trite storyline and overt melodrama, with many attributing its financial success to factors other than Shahrukh Khan: it paired him with Katrina Kaif for the first time, re-united him with his Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi co-star Anushka Sharma, had music by Oscar-winner AR Rahman, and was legend Yash Chopra’s final film before his tragic death. Don 2 was well-liked by critics, garnering five Filmfare nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor, but it lacked the charm and fun of the 2006 remake. And Ra.One became a critical fiasco, with many reviewers blasting Khan for allowing his ego to turn the film into a bloated, unentertaining mess (Khan himself later expressed his embarrassment and disappointment with the film).
Meanwhile, Khan’s Chennai Express co-star, Deepika Padukone, has been on her hottest hot streak since entering the business. Her last movie was Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, currently the third-highest grossing Bollywood film of all-time (reviewed here). Before that, she was in Race 2, which became a huge financial success despite being a terrible movie. And last summer she had Cocktail, which paired her with frequent on-screen partner Saif Ali Khan and earned her a Best Actress Filmfare nomination. Even if Chennai Express is a hit, there will be a large portion of the public who will attribute the success to Deepika’s star power rather than Shahrukh’s.
With Salman Khan’s films consistently making boatloads of money (of the top five grossing Bollywood films of all-time, four star Sallu), Aamir Khan making rare-but-huge splashes both critically and commercially (2009’s 3 Idiots is still the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all-time and the only Bollywood film on IMDb’s Top 250), and Ranbir Kapoor making his case for being the heir-apparent to the Bollywood crown (YJHD and Barfi! are two of the highest-grossing films ever, and Kapoor has won the Filmfare award for Best Actor the past two years in a row), the legitimacy of Shahrukh’s “King Khan” title has come into question. With estimates putting the budget of Chennai Express somewhere between 75 and 90 crores, the film will almost certainly turn a profit and enter the coveted the “100 crore club”, but that’s not really the point.
You have to go all the way back to 2010’s My Name is Khan to find a film that was largely appreciated by both the critics and film-going public, but even that film’s big success was undoubtedly also helped by Karan Johar’s involvement as producer/director and the pairing of Kajol with Khan (one of the most popular on-screen jodis in Bollywood history). The last film in which Shahrukh played a typical romantic hero that became a critical and commercial hit was all the way back in 2008 with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Is four-and-a-half years too long?
Shahrukh is leaving nothing to chance. He and Deepika have been on nearly every big reality show in India as “guest judges,” they’ve attended countless press junkets for the release of song promos and the album itself (which has sold well and is a hit already), and the studio even delayed the release of the film by one day – from August 8th to August 9th – to take advantage of higher attendance on Fridays. But with the film already embroiled in controversy (many claim that it’s racist towards south Indians and Tamilians specifically) and Khan himself coming off of accusations of illegally determining the gender of his latest child, AbRam (born via surrogacy), Chennai Express has to repair Khan’s public image and re-solidify his claim to the throne. Khan’s fan following may still be large, but his leading man days are certainly numbered. He’s not getting any younger, even if his co-stars are.
Shahrukh Khan has been the face of Bollywood for nearly two decades. Here’s hoping his ride on the Chennai Express extends his popularity for even more years to come.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com