The absolute washout performance of Gowtam Tinnanuri’s Jersey has left the film trade and Shahid Kapoor, shell shocked. It started low on Friday with all-India collections of less than 4 crore rupees. By Monday, the collections had fallen to 1 crore 60 lakh.
Shell shocked, producer and trade analyst Girish Johar says, “Yes, the underwhelming response to Jersey has not gone down well within the film fraternity. The expectations were quite high from the film and the positive reviews and feedback too, got the expectations higher. Unfortunately, Jersey was postponed a few times and the release timings were not looked at properly. Maybe, the team overlooked the Tsunami at the box office, KGF2. Even so, the release was pushed by another week ahead just four days ahead of release. With a big film like Jersey, you simply can’t afford these mistakes.”
Johar also questions the validity of the star system. “You had Shahid Kapoor, after his mega-successful release Kabir Singh, a shift of release date at the last minute does not show confidence in your product and leading man. It should have been planned earlier and better. The audience which buys tickets on an impulse was missing for Jersey. Also, I feel an emotional drama, banks heavily on its music, which too was below average. But, I am pretty confident that Shahid Kapoor is a huge star and immensely talented, his next outing will be keenly awaited.”
Shahid had earlier scored a big hit with a South Indian remake in Hindi Kabir Singh which recreated Vijay Deverakonda’s Arjun Reddy.
Like Kabir Singh, the Telugu and Hindi versions of Jersey were directed by the same director Gowtam Tinnanuri. Where Tinnanuri erred was in making the two Jerseys carbon copies of each other. Apart from the actors, there was no difference between the Telugu and Hindi version of Jersey.
Which brings us to a crucial question about remakes: why do them when the original is exactly the same as the remake? Instead of doing a Hindi remake (and a very fine faithful remake at that), the makers of Jersey could have dubbed the Telugu original into Hindi, thereby saving themselves at least 70-80 crore rupees of losses.
The massive failure of Jersey is a big blow to Shahid Kapoor’s career. He has reportedly hiked his price substantially in recent times. No producer will be willing to pay him the kind of money he demands. Not after Jersey.
Says trade expert Atul Mohan, “The bridge between North and South audience narrowed during the Lockdown. All hit south movies were consumed by audience during this period. Many factors contributed to Jersey’s failure: lack of hit music, multiple postponements and change in entertainment consumption pattern of audience. The marketing team of the film failed to create any buzz or excitement around the film. It was a marketing disaster I would say. Also, the release date was very wrong. A week before came the Tsunami named KGF2 and this week Runway 34 and Heropanti 2 are arriving. Earlier too the makers locked a wrong release date when they decided to sandwich Jersey between 83 and RRR by deciding to release on 31st December. Everything was going wrong for the film.”
The failure of Jersey is a big lesson for Kartik Aaryan who is doing Shehzada a big blustering Hindi version of the Allu Arjun Telugu blockbuster Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. Rest assured, the remake will be radically different from the original. Which is the only way a remake can work at the box office.
This Friday we have two original films at the box office. The fascinating combination of Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn is ample incentive for audiences to see Runway 34. An airborne thriller is rare in Hindi cinema. On the basis of the trailer, some are comparing Runway 34 to Hollywood films like the Tom Hanks’starrer Sully and the Denzel Washington starrer Flight.
But let me assure these cynics, Runway 34 is none of the above. It is….different! And exciting.
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala is anxious and desperate for a hit after three thundering fiascos ’83, Tadap and Bachchhan Paandey. Will Tiger Shroff and his slick kicks in Heropanti reverse Nadiadwala’s fortunes.? Action films are in demand. And Tiger’s stunts seldom fail.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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