'Laal Singh Chaddha': Does online boycott lead to box office failure?

Like you are surprised, we too were. The box office mantra is unpredictable that is a fact we are taking from this development.

Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer ‘Lal Singh Chaddha’ has tanked at the domestic box office and the debate has been around the boycott call that trended before its release. While the film has received mix reviews, the question everyone is asking is cancel culture responsible for its bad show on the ticket window.

But before we dwell in length into that, let’s first rewind to the year 2000. Aamir launched his brother Faisal Khan in a film called ‘Mela’, which was a box office disaster. Reports now say ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is a bigger disaster.

Biggest disaster of all times

Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman Khan have had flops, though the three continue to be the biggest crowd pullers. Higher the budget, higher is the risk for the trio. A trade source told Bollywood Hungama that Aamir latest offering ‘will clock record losses and emerge the biggest disaster of all time among films done by the trio.’

Why the film failed: Experts weigh in

Bollywood has been going through a rough phase, but ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ is a jolt to the Mumbai-based industry which is struggling to keep up with the film industries based in South. The ‘Forrest Gump’ remake was expected to revive Bollywood but not to be.

Only ‘The Kashmir Files’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ and ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ have cracked box office in 2022.

Explaining why the film didn’t do well, film trade analyst Ramesh Bala said that its failure was a ‘combination of both the content and boycott’. Bala said a ₹10-11 crore opening-day business shows that people were not willing to come to the theatres.

Leaf through tomes of analysis it becomes clear that the post-coronavirus audience ‘prefers grand entertainers that can convince them to go the cinema. Else, Bala, said they can watch films on OTT.

Other experts too believe that the film preference and audience has changed in the post-pandemic world and that too hurt ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’.

Read More:- Aamir Khan's 'Laal Singh Chaddha' becomes highest grossing Hindi film at international box office

No OTT buyers?

But for Aamir, there isn’t much relief as reports suggest that there are no OTT takers for the film. Initially, the film was supposed to stream on Netflix after six months of its theatrical release, but now the streaming giant has backed out of the deal.

It is now believed that the film will stream on Voot, which is owned by the co-producers of the film.

'Laal Singh Chaddha' boycott calls

Aamir’s statement in 2015 came to haunt him again just before the release of his film. His video talking about what he called growing intolerance in the country started circulating on social media platform and subsequently boycott Laal Singh Chaddha became an internet trend.

Aware that the call to boycott had the potential to take toll on his films, the actor went in a damage control mode, stating that he was a true Indian.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher, who had slammed Aamir over his 2015 remark, had this response to whether the boycott trend on social media had affected the performance of Laal Singh Chaddha. He said and I quote: “The boycott trend is not new. Many films that have been boycotted in the past have turned out to be big hits. Good films find a way to work. The Kashmir Files was also boycotted, but it did exceedingly well.” End Quote.

Also Watch | Raju Srivastava has gained consciousness after 15 days, health improving: Comedian’s secretary