'Pathaan' was directed by Siddharth Anand and the movie was released on January 25, 2023. The movie had a great opening and went on to break several records at the box office. On the other hand, Siddharth's this year's big release 'Fighter' is not performing as it was expected.
'Fighter' was released in theatres on January 25 on the eve of Republic Day. Given the buzz of the film, it didn't open to great numbers. Though it crossed the Rs 100 crore mark in just four days of its release, the first Monday witnessed a drastic drop in its collections as 'Fighter' earned only Rs 8 crore at the box office. On Day 6, it again saw further slump as the film collected Rs 7.75 crore.
Despite having a strong star cast like Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan and directed by astute filmmaker like Siddharth Anand, who had given hits like 'War' and 'Pathaan', what is the reason that 'Fighter' is underperforming at the box office? Here's what producer and film business expert, Girish Johar has to say.
Girish said, ''The only common thread between Pathaan and Fighter is the director and I don't think apart from that we need to compare both films. Because the actors are different, the story idea and concept, everything is different''
''Having said that, yes, Fighter has not performed well, especially after the first weekend and also it took a little muted start at the box office,'' he added.
On why the film is not doing well at the box office, Johar shared, ''Deepika and Hrithik should have actually lit the screens on fire. They have so much stardom and charisma. But probably that shimmer or sizzle on screen which was expected wasn't there, that's one point.''
He continued, ''Secondly, I believe the music was a major drawback. It couldn't catch on with the public. In Pataan the music was good and I don't see any chartbuster music in Fighter. Music helps promote the film and it plays a crucial part especially when you have dancers like Hrithik and Deepika. Music is a total failure in Fighter and this is my personal take.''
The trade expert also said, ''Apart from that, probably the audience felt that there was nothing new in the film. The target audience of the film which was an urban multiplex audience especially the English-speaking ones had already seen Tom Cruise's Top Gun. So, for them, it was nothing new.''
''In Pathaan, there was hardcore combat and hand-to-hand action scenes. Fighter didn't penetrate well enough into the lower end of Tier 2 and 3 because audience couldn't relate to it,'' he concluded.
It is to be noted that, 'Pathaan' earned 57.00 crore (net) in India net on its first day for all languages while the gross collection was 67.80 crore.