Why Salman Khan’s ‘Bharat’ Is a Disappointment at the Box-Office

‘Bharat’ isn’t the big success it’s being made out to be.

Salman Khan’s ambitious Bharat hasn’t exactly turned out to be the Eid blockbuster that the makers hoped it would become. Yes, the film will be certified as a “hit” by conventional box-office standards, but measure the latest bhai film with the milestone set by his previous hits, and you’ll see why Bharat falls short.

Though Bharat began on a promising note by collecting a HUGE Rs 42.30 crore at ticket windows in India on its opening day, the film soon ran out of steam. In fact, the drop from Day 1 to Day 2 itself is quite steep, and this dip continues to Day 3. But, the biggest drop comes on Day 6, the first Monday, the acid test for any film, and Bharat took a plunge by over Rs 30 crore.

Check out the day wise collection of Bharat below:

Tiger Zinda Hai vs Bharat

Let’s compare the figures of Bharat to Salman Khan’s December 2017 release Tiger Zinda Hai. Like Bharat, YashRaj Films’ Tiger Zinda Hai was directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and featured Katrina Kaif opposite Salman. Though it wasn’t an Eid release, take a look at how the film sustained over 10 days. Between Day 1 and Day 10, Tiger Zinda Hai sees a dip of just over Rs 10 crore. However, the difference in the drop in collections of Bharat between Day 1 and Day 10 is an astounding Rs 38 crore.

Sultan vs Bharat

Take a look at the collections of Sultan, Salman Khan’s Eid release from 2016. While there is a significant drop in revenue in domestic ticket sales from Day 1 to Day 10, check out the at way in which Sultan’s collections hold strong over the first 5 days. The word-of-mouth on Sultan was so good that the film registered a higher collection on Day 5 (Rs 38.21 crore) than on Day 1 (Rs 36.54 crore). In comparison, Bharat’s Day 1 to Day 5 dip is almost Rs 15 crore.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan vs Bharat

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is another one of Salman Khan’s Eid blockbusters. Released in 2015, this film by Kabir Khan also featuring Kareena Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in important roles was a rare success also because the critics unanimously loved it. The degree of Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s popularity can be gauged by the way the film sustains its collections on the first working Monday after its release. The film opened at Rs 27.25 crore on Day 1 and while this figure jumped on Day 2 and Day 3, it managed to stay at Rs 27.05 crore on Day 4, a Monday, making it the highest Day 4 collection ever in Bollywood. In comparison, Bharat crashed to a single digit Rs 9 crore on its first Monday.

With such terrific box-office figures behind them, the makers of Salman Khan’s Bharat will no doubt be disappointed by their film’s performance. After the debacle of Race 3, does the lukewarm response to Bharat point towards Salman Khan’s reducing influence over the box-office? With a Rs 42.30 crore opening day, no doubt Salman still commands a huge draw at ticket windows, however, this does indicate that a “star” project cannot any longer be guaranteed to fly solo at the box-office if it’s not backed by an equally powerful script.