Sanju Box Office Prediction: Can Ranbir Kapoor Manage To Beat Aamir Khan's PK? Trade Expert Reveals

Ranbir Kapoor is playing the main lead in this week's solo major Bollywood release, Sanju. It is the much-hyped biopic of one of India's most controversial film stars, Sanjay Dutt, made with his blessings. Sanju is directed by Dutt's good friend, Rajkumar Hirani, who is known to deliver nothing less than a blockbuster, ever since he made his directorial debut with Munna Bhai MBBS in 2003.

Talking about Hirani's filmography, the man has made only four movies before Sanju, but each of his movies has turned out to be a bigger hit than its predecessor. It also has to be mentioned that his last two movies, 3 Idiots (lifetime collection domestic: Rs 202 crore) and PK (lifetime collection domestic: Rs 340 crore) had the added advantage of Aamir Khan's star-power. So can Sanju manage to beat PK's collections despite the absence of Aamir Khan in the cast?

Sure, there is a lot of intrigue about the movie, and there is a chance that it can mirror the same success path as Sushant Singh Rajput's MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. However, while Ranbir Kapoor is a great actor, no doubt, his box office pull has taken a dent in the past couple of years, with Jagga Jasoos turning out to be an unfortunate huge disaster. So it is definitely some huge pressure on both Hirani and Kapoor to deliver a mammoth hit, while doing justice to Dutt's story.

We EXCLUSIVELY spoke to the trade expert, Akshaye Rathi on his take about comparing Ranbir with Aamir. Here's what he has to say, "It is a bit unfair to compare Ranbir Kapoor with Aamir Khan. Ranbir is just about 10 or 11 years old in the industry, while Aamir Khan is soon to be completing about three decades. The stardom that (Aamir) achieved over three decades is definitely much bigger than what Ranbir has gotten over a decade. Plus, Aamir Khan is a veteran, a very senior man who is also a producer and a director, besides being an actor. So to compare Aamir Khan's film with that of Ranbir Kapoor's, despite Raju Hirani being a common factor is really unfair."

However, Rathi has huge hopes from the film's box office appeal and that has to do a lot to do with Hirani! He continued, "Rajkumar Hirani is a director capable of delivering massive blockbusters, irrespective of trends or superstars in it. So let's hope that the Rajkumar Hirani factor, the curiosity value around the film and the fact that it is about a much-loved star of this country can bring the movie to extremely ambitious levels. Sanju is a Rajkumar Hirani film, and in Hirani we trust!"

As per certain trade sources, the movie is predicted to do a business of Rs 250 crore. The advance bookings, that have been open from Sunday, are pretty decent, and if the movie gets good reviews, Sanju can deliver wonders at the box office.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2018 08:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).