Akshay Kumar starrer 'Sarfira' and Kamal Haasan's 'Indian 2' have ignited an anticipation among moviegoers. Both films, which are of different genres, are all set to hit the screens tomorrow, July 12. 'Indian 2' marks Kamal Haasan and director Shankar's reunion after 28 years. It is a sequel to the 1996 Tamil film which was a cult. Haasan, 69, will be seen reprising his role as Senapathy. The buzz of the film is positive and pre-sales collections are also pretty good. 'Sarfira', on the other hand, is not being able to create the hype as compared to 'Indian 2'. However, the early reviews of the Sudha Kongara directorial is positive. Akshay Kumar starrer is the Hindi remake of Suriya-starrer Tamil film 'Soorarai Potru' (2020). Outlook India spoke to producer and film business expert Girish Johar who opened up about both the films and also predicted the day 1 box office collections.
He said, ''Both are different films. Sarfira, we all know is the remake of the Tamil film with the same name and Indian 2 is coming after a big gap. Shankar and Kamal Haasan have come together and it's also a hit franchise. I believe both the films, in the Hindi market will rely on a lot of word of mouth, especially in Tier 1 and the metro cities.''
He added, ''For Sarfira, they have started promoting the film but I believe that the traction of the film is just average. The advance booking sales are also not that great. If there are some traction at the box office, things can change there from post-evening onwards and then a good weekend.''
The trade expert continued, ''Sarfira is not an out-and-out commercial film. It's an urban nuanced film, specifically targeting metro audiences. The genre and the presentation is for the limited metro kind of audience. Though it has Akshay Kumar in the lead, it will rely on word of mouth.''
While talking about 'Indian 2', he shared, ''In certain market, yes, the buzz is good and in the Hindi market, in the mass areas, like in Tier 2 and interior places, there is some decent buzz. Having said that we all know Kamal Haasan is a huge icon and talent. It will be starting decent but again, seeing the commercial aspects of the film, it can grow over the weekend.''
On the current box office scenerio, Johar said, ''It has been very receptive these days. If the film is good, then it has a long way to go. As I have said earlier, box office is very dynamic.'' While predicting the day 1 box office collections of 'Sarfira' and 'Indian 2', he again said it will depend on a lot of word of mouth and added, ''Sarfira should open around Rs 2-3 crore. It can go higher also if the evening and night shows pick up. Same with Indian 2. It can go higher again with the word of mouth.''
He also added that Prabhas starrer 'Kalki 2898 AD', might have an advantage if these two films don't perform well. It would probably take the top spot in its third weekend as per Girish Johar.
