Q. Where does the credit go for the Hindi version of 2.0 you have said Akshay Kumar as its dubbed but Bahubali - The Conclusion with no stars did even bigger so its the content of the film really and not Akshay Kumar?

Shahid Butt

A. See obviously when a film works in the long run then its content.  The point that was made is that till date all dubbed films released in Hindi markets have been driven by Mumbai circuit. Bahubali - The Conclusion is the only exception which had business which was uniform but that had huge brand value by the time it released. Even the first Bahubali film had 50% business from Mumbai on day one. 2.0 was being led by Delhi / UP, East Punjab, Rajasthan and Bihar and this is where Akshay Kumar has a strong market so its not hard to work out that he is the reason why this dubbed film behaved differently. 

Q. I would just like to point out to you that Rajnikant may have been a big star five years ago in Tamil Nadu but now younger stars have taken over and lead at the box office in Tamil Nadu and it could be that your calculations are wrong and the Tamil Nadu trade is spot on and 13 crore is the first day gross for 2.0.

S. Kurusar

A. You may be right and there may be bigger younger stars due to the age factor but we are not really going into who is the biggest star in Tamil Nadu as you may know better. Filmwatchers there will have a good idea of that.  Even if others have taken over nobody can take away the fact that Rajnikant as been huge in TN since 1980 which is a long time to be at the at top or now near the top as you put it. As for box office numbers it does not matter who is number one or number two as you compare collections and not stars. 

It is difficult to make too many comments against another industry as our mailbox will be flooded that its boxofficeHINDI and not boxofficeINDIA as has happened before. Lets just say there is an issue with reporting, as figures going around do not match cinema collections which is the only way to track box office as its done across the world. It seems that figures are worked through shares when shares should be worked out from the collections and a lot extra is lumped on day one but that extra does not seem to be the same for all films. There was a Tamil film released on Diwali and the GROSS figures going around for that was 33 crore and for 2.0 it was 13 crore but from actual cinema numbers this is impossible. There are limited cinema DCR's (daily collections reports) in Tamil Nadu but the ones which are there were at best 60% in favour of the Diwali release but then some were the same. But the reported GROSS figures are almost 300% more for the Diwali release. It is the same state so you are not going to have films collecting similar at some places and then 200-300% gap in others. The only way this sort of gap comes is when the release size is lopsided or a huge difference in screenings at places which should not be the case here as 2.0 itself is a huge film. There are a lot more cinema collections after the week is out so a better judgement can be made but looking at what cinema collections are available at present it is certain that if the Diwali release was 33 crore then 2.0 is not 13 crore and if 2.0 is 13 crore then the Diwali release is not 33 crore. This even a five year can make out by comparing cinema numbers. The industry should come out of tracking through shares as it will always be off as far as actual collections go. The real cinema data for Tamil Nadu is limited on a daily basis but a much wider sample is available when the week is out so if the analysts in the state have the access and work through them then there will be more realistic numbers. This is just an observation from the outside and not about Hindi film industry being better than the Tamil industry.