By now, everyone knows that Heroine could collect no positive reviews - neither from the critics nor from the audience at large. But was this over-ambitious project a profitable one for the makers, here's an update from Bollywood Trade expert Komal Nahta
Madhur Bhandarkar and Kareena Kapoor’s Heroine was expected to shake the box-office. But, unfortunately, nothing of the sort happened. After a fair start on Friday (Rs. 7.25 crore), collections failed to shoot up. Saturday ended at Rs. 7.5 crore, and Sunday was no better than Friday. The weekend total of Rs. 22 crore may still have been alright if the woman-centric film had held on reasonably well from Monday onwards. But the worst fears of the industry came true after the first weekend. Collections came crashing down from the fourth day itself because the word of mouth was very negative.
Heroine cost around Rs. 28-29 crore to make. If one adds another Rs. 10 crore for promotion and release and at least Rs. 4 crore spent on the old Heroine (with Aishwarya Rai in the title role), one gets a total investment of Rs. 42-43 crore. The total share from Indian theatres would be around Rs. 18-19 crore. Satellite rights will not fetch the producers UTV a fortune for two reasons – the reports are not encouraging, and the film is certified for adults, with a lot of scenes showing Kareena Kapoor smoking. If one were to even assume that a channel would be willing to pay Rs. 8-9 crore for the rights, the total revenue would add up to Rs. 26-28 crore. Overseas, audio and home video rights would not yield more than Rs. 6-7 crore, taking the total revenues to Rs. 33-35 crore. The corporate house would still stand to lose Rs. at least Rs. 8-10 crore.
The film was never expected to work too well in the ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, but its performance in the big multiplexes of the major cities is what has shocked the trade because it was expected to weave its magic there at least. What was also shocking was that a woman-oriented film failed to find takers among the female audience too.
Tags: Heroine, Box Office, Trade, Feature