When this year began, Ali Abbas Zafar's sci-fi actioner, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, was on our list of potential candidates to be the highest-grosser of 2024. Oh, how things have turned! Forget being the highest grossing Indian movie of 2024 or even the highest grossing Hindi film of the year, some trade pundits believe Bade Miyan Chote Miyan will even struggle to gross Rs 100 crore mark. That's how below-par the film's performance was in the opening weekend. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Box Office Collection Day 4: Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s Action Flick Nears Rs 100 Crore Globally.

Even though it was released alongside Ajay Devgn's Maidaan, Bade Miyan Chote Miyaan had the upper hand. It had two popular heroes in the lead in Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff. It was a big-budget action masala film, which would have been an easy preference for the mainstream audience over a three-hour-long sports drama. Both movies had the holiday advantage, having released on Eid Ul Fitr, which was deemed a good spot for Bollywood releases. Well, at least before the pandemic struck.

Post-2020, films that were released during Eid had actually struggled to make a profit. Even Salman Khan, who gave many blockbusters in this period before 2020, had to face major disappointment when Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan was released in 2023 to his lowest box office Eid opening since 2011. Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff suffered losses in 2022 when their movies, Runway 34 and Heropanti 2, respectively, were released during Eid and became major box-office disappointments. Now, box office history is repeating for these two stars.

Watch the Trailer of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan:

Let's get to Bade Miyan Chote Miyan here, we will discuss Maidaan in another article. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan was first supposed to release on April 10, before the plans changed and the makers decided to only have preview shows on that day and then have a fully fledged release on April 11. Then just a day before that, even that scene changed, as Bade Miyan Chote Miyan ditched the preview shows to only have a proper release on April 11.

We don't know what was going on in the minds of the film's team with regard to these harried decisions, but it didn't give a show of confidence for the rest of us. The pre-release collections were less than stellar, though many were surprised by the sudden spike in bookings late evening of April 10. Soon, allegations of corporate and bulk bookings were levelled against the film. Now, these allegations aren't new, with even movies like Brahmastra, Pathaan, Jawan, Tiger 2, Gadar 2, Dunki, etc, also facing these accusations. However, these movies also had more impressionable collections to show.

Sadly, that wasn't the case with BMCM. By the time the movie was done with its extended first weekend, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan had only collected Rs 38.07 crore in India (as per Bollywood Hungama). With any other film with a lesser star in the lead, this should have been a decent enough opening weekend earnings. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, however, had to perform much better. Much, much better. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Movie Review: Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff Turn Buddy-Action Into Migraine-Inducing Boredom.

For one, it had two saleable box office leads in Akshay and Tiger. Secondly, it came during the Eid holiday and therefore should have taken advantage of the same. Thirdly, it was reportedly made on a humongous large budget.

Now we don't know how true this is, but as per a report in Pinkvilla that was published on April 27, 2022, BMCM was costing Rs 350 crore! This includes the production costs of Rs 120 crore and the salaries of the stars. But looking at how the film is performing over the initial weekend, we don't have much hope if BMCM could even recover the production costs.

There is a reason why. Bade Miyan Chote Miyan opened on a Thursday, which was a holiday (Eid), with collections of Rs 16.07 crore in India. However, it could not even manage to have a double-digit collection on the other days, including Saturday and Sunday, where it earned Rs 7.50 crore and Rs 8 crore, respectively. And the film is not showing a good trend in the week ahead.

So what went wrong here? You can blame quite a few factors here - Akshay and Tiger are going through a lean phase at the box office, the pre-release material wasn't exciting enough, including the trailers and songs, and Maidaan eating into its box office share. Despite popular Malayalam star Prithviraj Sukumaran playing the antagonist, BMCM also couldn't make inroads into South of India. However, the biggest letdown was the film itself. BMCM opened to poor reviews, and for once, the audience response also reflected the same. BMCM was lambasted for its ordinary performances, unremarkable action scenes and contrived plot. No matter how big your budget is, and how confident your producer is that he claims the movie will do Rs 1100 crore in India alone (sigh), nothing matters if your movie sucks so bad that even the audience rejects it. PS: Pooja Entertainment, who has backed BMCM, has not delivered a true-blue hit since 2001, and their last proper box office success was Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai. Make what you want of this info!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2024 10:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).