Dunki vs Salaar: From Accusations of 'Corporate Bookings' to 'Inflated' Collections, The Box Office War Between Shah Rukh Khan and Prabhas' Films on Social Media is Getting Worse!
The clash is getting uglier by the day, with each camps trying to shortchange the other by imposing accusations of inflations to corporate booking. But it can never be confirmed who is right, or who is wrong. Sadly...
Ever since the makers of Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire announced they were releasing the film on the same week as Rajkumar Hirani's Dunki, things were bound to turn bad. When two biggies land at the same time, there will be a bitter war in terms of audience-wooing, hype-planning, and screen-capturing, not to mention who wins the final race. Genre-wise, Salaar had the edge. It's an action entertainer made by Prashanth Neel, whose KGF movies have been record earners, and starring Prabhas in the lead, whose presence guarantees record-breaking starts. On the other hand, Dunki is a social drama, but it has Shah Rukh Khan as both producer and actor, and he has been rewriting record books in 2023. Moreover, Hirani has never made a single flop to date in his career, with each movie of his breaking the record of the previous one. Salaar Box Office: Did Hombale Films Delete BO Figures of Prabhas-Starrer From X? Here's What We Know!
Dunki landed in theatres on December 21, and Salaar on December 22, and both films had one response in common - mixed reviews. Salaar, thanks to the genre and its hold on the South market, took off to a bigger start, but since then things have been quite murky. The fan clubs are thick in war with each other, each questioning the collections of the other film, while 'trade experts' and portals are also adding their own masala in the process.
Just recently, the X handle of 'LetsCinema' posted about shows of Dunki in PVR Citi Mall, Andheri, Mumbai, being shown full or nearly full on BookMyShow, but only had '20% occupancy' in reality. The handle took down this post later, although by then, the post had already gone viral.
Is this true?
Shah Rukh Khan fans responded to the accusation in kind, but 'corporate bookings' accusations have been plaguing the superstar this year, even for his past blockbusters of 2023, namely Pathaan and Jawan. At the time of writing this article, Dunki has grossed Rs 256 crore worldwide as per Red Chillies. Dunki Box Office Collection Day 5: Shah Rukh Khan's Social Dramedy Surpasses Rs 250 Crore Mark Globally!
Meanwhile, Salaar and Hombale Films are facing another kind of accusation - of inflating box office figures. On December 25, the official X handle of Salaar posted that the film grossed Rs 402 crore worldwide, which is quite impressive for a movie that has released only three days before this.
However, other portals that track box office collections are giving out a lesser amount in comparison, some even by a margin of Rs 100 crore! So who's telling the truth here?
As Per Cinetrak
Quite a few box office sites are affirming that both the movies are seeing a dip in their collections, but that's not reflecting in their projected box office performance. This scenario once again depicts how box office tracking in India is so messy, and why there is a need for Rentrak and Comscore here to display honest numbers to the public. Otherwise, it is all becoming a game of manipulation, alleged or not, and we really need to see the right picture.
Dunki also stars Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal and Boman Irani. Meanwhile Salaar has Prithviraj Sukumaran, Shruti Haasan, Bobby Simha, Jagapathi Babu, Sriya Reddy, Easwari Rao in the cast apart from Prabhas.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2023 05:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).