The SS Rajamouli factor in Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva seems to be working in favour of the film, which is getting a good push from the Telugu Box Office as well in its nearly 2 lakh tickets sold in advance for the opening weekend.
The film has sold 1.91 lakh tickets all-India for Rs 6.49 crore for its 2D, 3D and IMAX versions in the three days since ticket booking was opened, according to trade portal Sacnilk as on Tuesday 4:15 pm. Its next highest collection so far comes from Telugu, where it has sold more than 15,000 tickets for over Rs 23 lakh, the portal estimates.
“The film is seeing decent advance bookings in Telugu. If it has indeed sold 15,000 tickets for the Telugu version, it’s phenomenal. Not many Hindi films have done well in the Telugu dubbed versions even in current bookings, leave alone advanced bookings. It is a cause for celebration, subject to the content being good, too. Then it can be a good run for the film,” says film trade analyst Komal Nahta.
This comes against the backdrop of the popular Telugu director, known for his pan-Indian blockbusters such as the Baahubali films and the more recent RRR, lending his heft to the Hindi film by presenting it in the four south Indian languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Rajamouli earlier collaborated with Karan Johar, one of Brahmastra’s producers, for his Baahubali films’ Hindi release. The Brahmastra team has been particularly promoting the film among Telugu audience with an exclusive event in Hyderabad where actors Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor were joined by director Rajamouli as well as Telugu super star Junior NTR – Bhatt’s co-star from Rajamouli’s directorial RRR.
It shows Hindi films are taking a leaf out of the marketing books of the recent south Indian films, especially the Telugu films such as Pushpa: The Rise and RRR, which earned big bucks at the Hindi box office through their Hindi-dubbed versions. In many cases, they outperformed straight Hindi films by a wide margin.
“Earlier, the south Indian films were making the same mistake. They used to release their dubbed films without any promos, marketing and no fanfare. They just used to release the film. All that changed with Pushpa: The Rise, KGF and RRR. Likewise, Bollywood has also realised they need to market their films before releasing them, that they need to take extra effort to not just promote their films in non-southern states, but also in southern states because they are dubbed in southern languages also. You can't just release a film and expect the southern audience to lap it up without knowing about the film,” adds Nahta.
Brahmastra’s initial ticket bookings are a good sign for the Hindi film industry, which has had a body blow in back-to-back debacles at the box office, including those headlined by tops stars such as Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan. Brahmastra’s advance collections have surpassed what recent Hindi films Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Laal Singh Chaddha and Jug Jugg Jeeyo did pre-release, according to sacnilk.
Analysts estimate the film will open to Rs 20 crore-25 crore box-office collections on the first weekend and net a lifetime collection of Rs 130- Rs 200 crore. While a significant number, it falls way short of the estimated Rs 400 crore it has been made on.
The film is scheduled to release on September 9, 2022, and advanced bookings opened on Friday.