Ahead of Independence Day celebrations, it is a battle of the sequels in Bollywood as both Gadar 2 and OMG 2 release in theatres on August 11. Gadar 2, which sees the return of Sunny Deol as Tara Singh along with Ameesha Patel as Sakina, faces competition from the sequel of Akshay Kumar’s 2012 hit film OMG. While the advance bookings show that Sunny Deol has the upper hand, the buzz for OMG 2 is no less. If this wasn’t enough, there are two massive South Indian films also clashing at the box office. On one hand, we have Tamil superstar Rajinikant’s Jailer, on the other, Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi is releasing Bhola Shankar. With four big stars coming with their films, experts feel that it is going to boost the film industry with massive box-office collections.
Trade analyst Komal Nahta told News18 exclusively that the first preference for the audience is Gadar 2. “The advance booking of Gadar 2 is mind-boggling. I am pretty sure the film will earn anywhere between Rs 35-40 crore range on Day 1. The brunt of this will be borne by OMG 2 as the advances are barely 10 percent of the Sunny Deol starrer. So the opening of Akshay Kumar’s film will be affected.”
However, Nahta added that it doesn’t mean that OMG 2 won’t do well. “In the past, we have had various examples when two big films clashed at the box office and both did well. So if OMG 2 has merit, it will surely find its audience.”
Echoing a similar sentiment, trade expert Taran Adarsh said, “Gadar is an emotion and despite the fact it has been two decades since the first film released, it has tremendous recall value. People remember the film fondly which has helped the sequel and I feel the first-day collections should be more than Rs 30 crores. At the same time, OMG 2 should start slow but will surely pick up with word-of-mouth and on Friday the film should collect around Rs 8-10 crore.”
Gadar 2 is a sequel to a well-liked movie, and Sunny Deol fans are eagerly anticipating it, according to film producer and business expert Girish Johar. “Bookings have gone nuts and the producers have gone all out with promotions, eyeing a 4000 screen count. Having said that, considering that Friday is a non-holiday, I anticipate that it will initially bring in Rs 25 crore, which is a sizable number in the wake of the pandemic. Seeing the craze and the spot bookings it can go even higher,” he said.
Johar is also of the opinion that the makers of OMG 2 are playing smartly. According to him, they know they have Gadar 2 in the north and Jailer in the south. However, he stated that they are hanging in there and know that paired with an A certificate they have a limited playing field. “Having said that, the film could start at Rs 10 crore to start with which is not bad at all,” he opined.
Talking about the two South films Rajinkant’s Jailer is extreme mass hysteria in Tamil-speaking states while Chiranjeevi’s Bhola Shankar has taken a solid opening in the Telugu market, but Adarsh doesn’t think it will hurt the box office performance of either Bollywood film. “Jailer and Bhola Shankar will have its share of the audience but they don’t have any buzz in the North. I believe all of them will complement each other on release in theaters,” he said.
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