Ek Tha Tiger? Sikandar is the latest in the series of underwhelming Salman Khan movies

Mumbai: In director Billy Wilder’s classic noir film Sunset Boulevard (1950), the character Norma Desmond, played so sensitively by Gloria Swanson, says: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Going by the performance of Hindi films, which rely more on stardom than scripts, it is clear that the audience is sending across an unambiguous message to the moviemakers: The pictures are bigger than the stars. The box-office performance of actor Salman Khan’s recent film Sikandar seems to underline this view.

Made on an estimated budget of more than Rs250 crore, the film’s opening day collection was Rs 26 crore, according to box office data research firm Sacnilk. This is considerably lower than the trade circuit’s estimate of Rs45-50 crore. Also, in the past eight years, Sikandar has been Salman Khan’s sixth film which has failed to draw crowds to theatres.

“Salman Khan’s stardom is under a cloud. This is because he has been unable to select scripts wisely,” said veteran trade analyst Komal Nahta. “The story of Sikandar is ridiculous. It does not make sense that a hero is protecting three people who have received his dead wife’s organs in donation,” he added.

Writers and trade analysts said the actor is taking his stardom for granted and heavily relying more on his star power than scripts.

“After Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) and Sultan (2016), it is evident that none of the films that Salman starred in were written with conviction. Some of the fault lies with the producers too who seem to have taken it for granted that if they have Salman on board and an Eid release plan, then the audience will accept anything that comes their way,” said scriptwriter Jaidev Hemmady. This approach is counter-productive, especially at a time when audiences are giving higher importance to stories than stars, he said.

Besides this, industry veterans are of the view that the genre of mass entertainer is not taken seriously in Hindi film industry. This is especially true in the case of Salman Khan’s films post the release of Sultan (2016).

“Hindi filmmakers have reduced mass entertainers to mindless, boring or cringe-inducing stories. A great deal of creativity is required to make mass entertainers,” said veteran producer, who wished to be unnamed. “Consider writer duo Salim-Javed’s films. Even though they were template stories, they looked fresh and they hardly compromised on entertaining value. In the past eight years, Salman Khan’s mass entertainers conspicuously lack these elements and rely more on his stardom.”

Overexposure of the actor through the Big Boss serial and events has affected the brand Salman Khan, said Girish Wankhede, a movie trade analyst. “Besides overexposure, Khan does not seem to prepare for his roles in mass entertainers. One does not see much difference in the way Salman Khan looks in the film Sikandar and outside the film,” he said. “Also, where is the story in Sikandar? Have the makers of Sikandar considered showing their film to people outside their circle and get their feedback? I seriously doubt it. If you don’t take your business seriously, why would the audience take your film seriously?”

Since its trailer release, the word-of-mouth communications for Sikandar have been unfavourable, which impacted its first day collection. Trade analysts said on the Eid day, some theatres in Mumbai cancelled shows of the film and increased shows of the mid-budget ‘The Diplomat’.

A trade analyst, who requested anonymity said: “There is not a single full house show in theatres in Mumbai. In some theatres, there are 20-30 people in theatres. This shows that word-of-mouth communications of Sikandar have been unfavourable and rapid.”

According to the data from Sacnilk, in the past three days, Sikandar has collected Rs74.5 crore across languages in India. Given the weak response, the trade circuit estimates that Sikandar’s collection will barely cross Rs150 crore in the coming days.