Q. Will Aamir Khan be affected by the dismal response to Thugs of Hindostan as its not just the box officebut the audience and the media are also very negative and this has never happened for Aamir Khan.

Mohd. Saifi

A. A 50 crore nett opening has also never happened for Aamir Khan. Stardom is about the opening and not about what anyone says as that is all opinions. Where a film goes after the opening is down to the film, sometimes they will work and sometimes they wont. The difference with Aamir Khan is the volume of films is so less so they are expected to work post the initial as the selecting and scripting process is very long with his films. The backlash could be due to the fact its an Aamir Khan film and people dont expect content like Thugs Of Hindostan. When limited work is done by a major star then its always beneficial for big lifetime numbers but when a film goes wrong then there is also long wait to rectify that mistake. A Salman Khan has a Kick around the corner after Jai Ho and a Tiger Zinda Hai not long after Tubelight. The stardom of Aamir Khan remains unaffected and the next film should prove that but you cant afford to take a long break and thats not only for Aamir Khan but all the older actors. Big stars should should put their stardom on the line as much as they can. The more films there are from big stars the better it is for the industry. A Thugs Of Hindostan may go wrong but there are very few films that create this sort of interest with the audience and that is what gives a film huge potential.

Q. Can Robot in Hindi be the biggest opener of Akshay Kumar?

P. Bakhru

A. It would easily be his biggest opener but there will business missing down South due to regional versions showing. If this was a regular Hindi release then it had the potential to cross 30 crore nett or even higher but now it may have to settle for under 30 crore nett but it should beat the opening numbers of Gold. The trailer has a huge response in the Hindi film circuits.

Q. I was shocked to read that the big advances today just sell 20 lakh odd tickets before release. Is it possible that films like Shahenshah and Khalnayak have better advances. Not in the amount collected but in the number of tickets sold?

Ketan Barot

A. If we make a top ten chart of the films to sell most tickets before release then its pretty certain that there will be some older films. The films you mentioned above can be there but also films like Border, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi or Koyla from the mid 90's. Bahubali - The Conclusion will be top as that level we doubt could have been reached by films in the eighties or nineties but the likes of Tiger Zinda Hai and Thugs of Hindostan may struggle to be in top five.