Housefull 4 Box Office: The Bizarre Case of Akshay Kumar’s Rs 200 Crore Grosser and the Muted Celebrations Over the Milestone!

On November 12, the producer and some of the stars of the Diwali release, Housefull 4, shared tweets celebrating the film's entry into the prestigious Rs 200 crore club. The producer, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment (NGE), had tweeted, "#NGEFamily thanks y’all for all the love for #SajidNadiadwala’s #Housefull4 as it hits DOUBLE CENTURY! ♥️ The madness continues in a cinema near you!" This would have made Akshay Kumar's second entrant in the Rs 200 crore club this year, after Mission Mangal. Akshay Kumar to Reunite with his Housefull 4 Co-star Kriti Sanon for Bachchan Pandey.

But why is there no fuss about the film's latest milestone? After all, a Bollywood film getting into a Rs 200 crore club is a huge thing, and this should have sent the trade analysts into a tizzy. But only a couple of trade experts, like Joginder Tuteja and Ramesh Bala, have tweeted about the 'official' nett box office, while the rest are pointedly ignoring it. And everyone knows the reason why...

Ever since the opening weekend figures of the film came out, Housefull 4 has under the scanner for allegedly inflating the collections. Now, a little percentage of inflation happens with nearly every movie, but certain trade analysts are of the opinion that the producers have added a few more crores to the actual figures than what is normally acceptable. While the fact that we have been okay with inflated collections till now is incredulous, Housefull 4 seemed to have toed over the line here. Housefull 4 Box Office: After Race 3 and Saaho, Now Akshay Kumar's Film Faces Accusations of Highly Inflating Its Collections.

Now you may ask how can box office figures be inflated. In Hollywood and most of the foreign markets, there is a separate entity that collates collections from various distribution circles and then provides the figures. This is why the box office collections for Hollywood films are accurate and reliable.

In the case of most of the film industries in India, there is no such separate agency. Rentrak tried hard to get into the field, but did find the support needed to make a breakthrough. Instead, it is the producer of a particular movie that request for the collections from the distributors. He or she gets the information from the major multiplex chains, as well as the distributors handling the single screen theatres in their area.

The producers then share the information with trade analysts like Taran Adarsh, Tuteja and others, either directly or through PR agencies, and these are then tweeted out by the experts. Trade analysts themselves can track the collections on their own, which requires some efforts from their end. So mostly, they rely on the producers to give them 'accurate' collections. Housefull 4 Box Office: Producer Ronnie Screwvala Calls Out Trade Analysts After Allegations Of Inflated Collections for Akshay Kumar's Film Surface.

Here's where things get murky. Many a time, the producers do add a few lakhs or crores on their own, either to give a respectable status to the collections or make the film worthy enough to get good satellite sellout. Or maybe it is a pure ego matter. Remember the time when the producer of Rajinikanth's Kabali claimed the film made Rs 250 crore worldwide in its first day?

In the past, films like Hrithik Roshan's Krrish 3 and Shah Rukh Khan's Happy New Year have been accused of inflating the figures way too high. In the case of Krrish 3, Rakesh Roshan, who had produced and directed the superhero film, claims that the movie made Rs 250 crore in India. But many trade circles peg Krrish 3's domestic collections to be about Rs 180 crore.

This year itself, films like Chhichore, De De Pyaar De, Saaho, and even War have been accused of giving expanded collections.

So why is Housefull 4 grabbing so much limelight than the other movies over the year? The makers have been creating the impression that the movie, which received poor reviews from the critics, has been unfairly targetted and the public has been loving the comedy caper. Housefull 4, thanks to some heavy promotions, have got a really great start at the box office, and being a Diwali release, where people are in the mood for entertainers, it got enough footfalls in the first week. Housefull 4 Box Office: Amidst Bad Reviews and Accusations of Fake Collections, Akshay Kumar Thanks Fans for Beating ‘Hate’ With Love.

But industry trackers like Sumit Kadel, Rohit Jaiswal, Raj Bansal et al have slammed the producers for the high percentage of inflation. Taran Adarsh, one of the most followed trade analysts in the industry, has stopped giving the collections of Housefull 4, after even he was told to stop endorsing the inflated figures. He did a similar thing earlier this year with Salman Khan's Bharat. He hasn't even tweeted about the figures when Housefull 4 supposedly entered the Rs 200 crore club on November 12.

Interestingly, the Bollywood Hungama site has been updating the figures of the film, and as of November 13, had earned Rs 187 crore. Which is, Rs 13 crore lesser than the producers' figures. Housefull 4, Race 3, Krrish 3: Here Are 7 Films That Were Accused Of Inflating Box Office Numbers.

Box Office India, meanwhile, pegs the collections to be Rs 197.8 crore approximately.

On November 8, Rohit Jaiswal claims that Housefull 4 had collected Rs 148.35 crore.

While on November 11, film distributor and analyst Raj Bansal puts out the box office collections of the film to be Rs 173 crore.

Sumit Kadel, who had been most vocal about the inflation in Housefull 4 collections, had posted a cryptic tweet taking a dig at the producers' claim of making Rs 200 crore. Of course, he hasn't taken the name of the film. but we know what he is referring to.

What interests the writer here is that not a single trade tracker here is consistent with the collections here, as the figures vary from each other. If they are all sourcing the collections from the same distributors and theatre chains, then why is there such a big discrepancy? Is this why Rentrak was not able to make a breakthrough in the trade collections business in India because of these discrepancies?

On a final note, Akshay Kumar, the lead star and the best thing about Housefull 4, hasn't tweeted the celebratory info of Housefull 4 getting into the Rs 200 crore club. Just saying!

Housefull 4 is directed by Farhad Samji and also stars Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde, Kriti Kharbanda, Rana Daggubati and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 13, 2019 08:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).