Superstar Shah Rukh Khan was the reigning king of 2023. With blockbuster releases like Jawan and Pathaan under his belt, SRK was unstoppable. The release of Dunki, his third and last release of the year, may have tamped down his streak. The film, which released on 21 December, initially gave a less-than-stellar performance at the box office.
It failed to mimic the grand success of his previous two films and faced stiff competition with Prabhas' Salaar.
Despite the lukewarm response, Dunki has managed to stand its ground. The film has paved the way for a different kind of success – it's a slow burn at the box office and has steadily managed to enter the Rs 400 crore club.
The film is now the fourth highest-grossing film of SRK's career after Jawan, Pathaan, and Chennai Express, which earned Rs 1,156 crores, Rs 1,050 crores, and Rs 424 crores, respectively.
But what could be the reason behind its success story?
Trade analyst Komal Nahta tells The Quint how Dunki has managed to create space for itself in the theatres. He adds that the two weeks of no releases at the box office have added to its growing popularity, even if it isn't the sole reason. The next big release is Sriram Raghavan's Merry Christmas, which hits theatres on 12 January.
"One reason is that there were no releases. Definitely when there is no opposition in the coming weeks, the films that are already running get a benefit. But I must also add that it will only help the running films if they are good – they may not be universally appealing and they may not be loved by everyone. But even if there is a section of the audience, like in the case of Dunki, that likes the film, then the lack of releases in the forthcoming weeks helps."Komal Nahta, Trade Analyst
He further says that despite the largely critical reviews, the box office success of a film never depends on reviews.
"When have reviews started mattering for box office success? I don’t think reviews ever mattered, it is word-of-mouth that counts more. People may have criticised Dunki and said it was a disaster, but it was because it was not up to Rajkumar Hirani’s mark or up to the mark in comparison to Shah Rukh Khan’s other releases Pathaan and Jawan. And rather than saying it’s good and not great they just said it’s horrible."
Meanwhile, Rajkumar Harini told DNA that Shah Rukh had anticipated the trajectory of Dunki's success,
"Throughout the journey, he kept telling me that don’t expect this to open like Jawan. It will not. He said I have done these films before so we should be realistic. There will be a different audience for this kind of a film, which is exactly how it happened.”
Dunki also stars Boman Irani, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal, Vikram Kochhar, and Anil Grover in pivotal roles.
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