Bollywood Dabangg Khan Salman Khan’s latest movie hit the screens in Indian cinemas Friday, but film analysts are skeptical it will have the same box office success as his previous Eid blockbusters.
It is something of a tradition now in the Hindi film industry for Khan to mark his place in a big release on the Eid holiday that calls an end to the holy month of Ramazan.
Last year’s Sultan broke opening weekend records and sits at fifth place in the all-time list of highest-grossing Hindi language films worldwide, just two places behind his 2015 Eid flick Bajrangi Bhaijan.
However, this year’s Tubelight, a drama set against the backdrop of the 1962 India-China war, is unlikely to do quite as well say critics. According to Bollywood analyst Taran Adarsh,
“#Tubelight rests on a thin plot … Screenplay lacks the power to enthrall and mesmerize … Emotions plenty, but few moments stand out,” he tweeted on the micro-blogging platform.
Adarsh added that it would still have an ‘awesome’ weekend at the box office due to Monday’s holiday and Khan’s unbreakable star power, but felt that eventually, it would only be able to make three billion rupees ($46 million) worldwide, that is the benchmark for a major hit.
Tubelight is an adaptation of 2015 American movie Little Boy and will be his fourth straight Eid release since 2010.
“For audiences, Salman Khan is synonymous with Eid and for distributors, Eid is synonymous with Salman Khan,” trade analyst Akshaye Rathi was quoted as saying to AFP.
