Is it time for Akshay Kumar to start worrying? That's a question that many in the industry are asking. There was a time when Akki had a chip on his shoulder and got whatever price he demanded. His last two films – Jumboand Chandni Chowk to China – failed to work their magic at the box office. Adding to Akki's woes, his latest 8x10 Tasveer too sank without a trace.
Box office collections
Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, 8x10 Tasveer was supposedly Akshay's attempt at making a mark in unconventional cinema. Sadly the film was not only panned by the critics but also by the audiences.
Tasveer released with an average 10-12-14 shows per multiplex. In fact the movie got the best deal from the multiplex owners. The multiplex owners offered the 52-48 per cent revenue sharing model – a rate reserved only for the bigger films – to the movie's makers.
Yet Tasveer opened on Friday with an average occupancy of barely 25 to 30 per cent across the nation. It gradually went up to 35 per cent by late noon and then rose to 40 per cent for the evening shows.
The film was rejected at single screens with just about 20 per cent occupancy on day one.
Effectively the opening day collections of the film were Rs 2 crore. Friday being a bank holiday on account of Ram Navami, the film got a better opening in the North. But it faltered on the weekend with collections dropping at almost every center.
Over the next two days the film collected just about Rs 3 crore. The weekend collections for the film have reportedly not crossed Rs 5 crore, a paltry amount for an Akshay Kumar movie.
In Mumbai, Tasveer received a jolt at majority of multiplexes. The real winners at the box office were two unlikely films the Hollywood flick Fast and Furious 4 and a Marathi film called Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy.
Fast and Furious saw an 80-100 per cent occupancy in many Mumbai multiplexes on Friday. Shivaji Raje too saw 'House Full' signs at many places in smaller cities of Maharashtra. Both these films fared very well on weekend in multiplexes as well.
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Trade Talk
The fizzling out of this Akshay Kumar film has not come as surprise to many insiders. Veteran trade analyst Amar Solanki points out that it wasn't a typical Akshay Kumar film to begin with.
"Nagesh Kukunoor's films have always worked more on word of mouth. This time though the initial response was negative and it spread like wildfire," he says, "Indeed the films losses could have been lesser had Akshay Kumar reduced his fees for the movie"
Another senior trade analyst says, "Budgets of Nagesh's films don't usually exceed Rs 10 crore. This one is supposed to have cost the makers Rs 40 crore. It was a big mistake to let someone like Nagesh Kukunoor such an expensive project. With approximately Rs 5-6 crore spent additionally on the film's publicity, Tasveer might just create a dent of Rs 30-32 crore in Percept's pockets."
Manoj Desai of G-7 in Mumbai concludes, "It is a good thing that Akshay consciously attempted something different. But he just chose the wrong subject."
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