Why Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan-1 may not do a Baahubali at the Hindi box office

 

Enthusiasm among the Hindi audience appears muted for Mani Ratnam-directed Ponniyin Selvan: I (PS- I), the first of his two-part magnum opus which is touted as the next pan-Indian big hit from the South – this time from the stables of the Tamil industry.

Both parts have already been shot on an estimated budget of Rs 500 crore. The second part is expected to be released within 6-8 months.  

The first part is expected to make an opening-day collection of Rs 25 crore in India, with Hindi alone accounting for Rs 3.75 crore-Rs 5 crore, going by Elara Capital estimates. It is expected to gross Rs 200- Rs 250 crore in lifetime collections, including Hindi.

Trade portal sacnilk has pegged the total first-day advance booking gross collections at Rs 12.27 crore. Hindi’s share is Rs 27 lakh. Ticket booking portal BookMyShow shows tickets easily available for the opening weekend in cities like Delhi and Mumbai for both the Tamil and Hindi versions in 2D and IMAX formats.  

“Tamil version is a sure shot super-duper blockbuster, but in Hindi if it does Rs 10-20 crore lifetime business, it will be a hit,” says trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai. It’s not in the same league as RRR or the Baahubali films, he adds.

The two-part franchise is a quintessential tent pole movie. A time-tested story about the power struggles for the royal throne mounted on a grand scale, larger-than-life action sequences and visual effects, a galaxy of stars from the Tamil industry, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, music by Academy Award winner AR Rahman – all ingredients which seem necessary to draw the audience to the theatres post-pandemic.  

The filmmaker is also known nationally for his well-respected brand of movies, which were also among the earliest to be dubbed in Hindi and released theatrically. “Ratnam was truly the first pan-Indian filmmaker. His Tamil film Roja was given a dubbed-Hindi theatrical release and became a sensational hit. Same was the case with his film Bombay also,” says Pillai.

But marketing and promotions for PS-I in Hindi have been limited to Delhi and Mumbai, unlike the recent successive hits RRR, Pushpa and KGF: Chapter 2 which caught the imagination of the audience in the nooks and corners of India’s hinterlands. The Hindi-dubbed versions of Pushpa, RRR and KGF: Chapter 2 made Rs 106 crore, Rs 265 crore and Rs 435 crore in net collections, respectively, according to Sacnilk.  

“Marketing and promotions for the Baahubali films were on a different level and had proper Hindi distributors handling it. PEN Studios is the only one doing it for Hindi PS-1 and without the might of bigger distributors, PS-I cannot match them,” says Pillai  

Tamil languages films were conspicuous in their absence in the recent southern tsunami which wreaked havoc on Bollywood’s box office fortunes. While the Kamal Hassan-starrer Vikram was a super hit in Tamil, it’s Hindi-dubbed version failed to make a mark, again because it was not pushed as much in Hindi, according to film industry experts.

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