WILL SITAARE ZAMEEN PAR EMERGE AS A SUCCESS AT THE BOX OFFICE?

Aamir Khan, one of the biggest superstars of India, will be back after nearly three years with a film. Titled Sitaare Zameen Par, there are a lot of expectations riding on it.

Sitaare Zameen Par also stars Genelia Deshmukh and features non-actors suffering from Down Syndrome. The film is about a foul-mouthed coach who has to train a bunch of atypical people for a basketball tournament. It is directed by R S Prasanna of Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017) fame and also features Genelia Deshmukh.

Sitaare Zameen Par has been in the news for several reasons, the primary one being that it features Aamir. Secondly, Aamir made a bold decision that he would not like to sell the OTT rights of the film to any streaming platform. This is surprising as every producer nowadays sells the digital rights before release and that helps the producer earn some moolah. Aamir hasn’t done that and is toying with the idea of releasing it directly on YouTube a few months after release! It won’t be free though; one will have to pay Rs. 100 to buy or rent the film. The idea might work big time. If suppose 50 lakh people buy Sitaare Zameen Par on YouTube by paying Rs. 100, Aamir can earn a huge Rs. 50 crores. But the idea may also backfire as the pay-per-view model hasn’t picked up in India and hence, people might not be ready to shell out money to watch a film on a platform where they are used to consuming content for free.

Moreover, the film is also in the news as Aamir has been giving multiple interviews, most of which have grabbed headlines. His most viral interview was with Rajat Sharma on ‘Aap Ki Adalat’. Aamir boldly took on tough questions and it became a talking point.

However, Sitaare Zameen Par also has its share of challenges. The subject seems very urban and hence, the excitement is limited. Secondly, it’s a remake of the 2018 Spanish film Campeones, which was remade in Hollywood as well as Champions (2023). It led to a lot of trolling. Ironically, most of the trolls have neither seen the Spanish nor the Hollywood version and yet, are behaving as if they have seen them and that’s the reason they would skip Sitaare Zameen Par. A major part of this trolling is obviously manufactured and is unlikely to affect the film’s box office outcome. However, the niche subject can prove detrimental. Moreover, Aamir was once the most credible actor, whose films would always open well. But that got affected a bit due to the debacles of Thugs Of Hindostan and Laal Singh Chaddha.

Sitaare Zameen Par’s advance has been just okay. The makers have smartly asked cinemas to start shows only after 11:00 am on Friday. They also said that there should be only 4 shows between 11:00 am and 6:00 pm. Hence, there will be fewer shows until 6:00 pm, leading to healthy occupancy in all shows. The strategy will work as Sitaare Zameen Par is not a front-loaded movie where people would crowd to see it early in the morning. This will also prevent troublemakers from sharing videos and pictures of shows going empty. A perception also builds when the aam junta steps to see the film on Friday and realize that many seats are full. At the same time, there are several patrons who are interested in seeing the film but are waiting for word of mouth and then decide to watch it.

If all goes well, Sitaare Zameen Par will open in the range of Rs. 10-12 crores. If reports are positive, there can be a huge jump on Saturday and Sunday. The target should be to have weekend collections in the range of Rs. 45-50 crores.