Holiday’s Low Opening – Analysis

holiday I analyzed the reason for the low opening of Holiday. A top rung star coming after many months in an action film, and everyone thought it will open big. But surprisingly the opening is low. I think there is a reason for this. Holiday has anti terrorist theme. And these kind of films have not done well in India since many years. When is the film with anti terrorist theme a hit? Sunny Deols’s Indian is not completely that. Aamir khan’s Sarfarosh was a success in 1999. That’s not a hit. The film which is a hit with this theme is Tirangaa way back in 1993. Many didn’t take the genre into account.

Also the anti terrorist films have not done well in Bollywood. There are the Sunny Deol’s films which are jingoistic with anti Pakistan themes, dialogues and OTT story. Or there are films like Main Hoon Na which show the Indians as terrorists and show Pakistanis as targets of terrorism. And many films which are made on this theme actually sympathize with the terrorists. And they carry the sublime message that Muslim terrorists should be sympathized. In the South these kind of films are considered massy entertainers and public will watch these films like commercial films.

But in Bollywood audiences need to be convinced that this is indeed a good action films and a quality film.So the word of mouth had to be good. And once the word of mouth is good the public are now watching this film.

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6 Comments
  1. Baba 10 years ago

    i think there is some truth about the BO of anti terrorism films. and yes MHN was horrible film even if you leave the lowsy direction and the overacting and terrible action scenes. its core was pro-pak story. yes films on these topics generally dont do well. but i think the reason for low opening was bad herione, gay villian and poor music

  2. DABANGG_NIINJA 10 years ago

    low opening ka karan akki ka star powar he jo ab nhi raha kkk ,.
    akki ki last sabhi movie ko low opening mili he

  3. sputnik 10 years ago

    I don’t think the theatrical trailer made any impact. They should have released a better trailer at least later. Agree about Akshay’s star power, bad villain and bad music being the reasons for the low opening.

    As for boxoffice of anti terrorism films people in India generally don’t like anything which is too serious or which could make them uncomfortable. They just want entertainment. So these movies are usually not big blockbusters.

    “Or there are films like Main Hoon Na which show the Indians as terrorists and show Pakistanis as targets of terrorism.”

    Main Hoon Na was too much of a silly movie to take it seriously but it had some Indians as good guys and some Indians as bad guys which is fine but from what I remember Pakistanis were all goody goody which was wrong.

    “And many films which are made on this theme actually sympathize with the terrorists. And they carry the sublime message that Muslim terrorists should be sympathized.”

    The terrorist in these films is usually a good guy who is wronged and turns into a terrorist – so they are romanticized like the anti hero characters of the older movies. And sometimes these movies are just old school movies with the usual villain replaced by a terrorist.

    A Wednesday was totally anti terrorists and it did well for its budget. I am not sure how well Mumbai Meri Jaan did but it was a good movie. Roja was a big hit in its southern versions. Maachis was very good but remember watching it in a empty theater. Dil Se was a flop. Fiza did not do that well but I think it was a bad movie even though Hrithik part was good or well acted. Mission Kashmir was a masala movie. Black Friday was a very good movie but had trouble with its release. Fanaa was a hit. The movie Aamir did get some critical acclaim. Then there were New York and MNIK which did reasonably well.

    Now coming back to Holiday this review here says

    A fresh take on patriotism
    Despite the fact that Holiday is a film about terror and Akshay plays an army man, there is not even one mention of Pakistan. Sarhad is mentioned, dushmans come into play too but they are all generic. When name-calling of terrorists begins, it is not limited to one particular religion. Instead, sleeper cells and terror are explained as byproducts of disenchantment with government/country.

    The thrust here is firmly on common man’s duty towards his country. Even Freddy doesn’t play a bearded, chest thumping terrorist living in caves somewhere (a caricature of terrorists we see so often in Bollywood) but a tech savvy guy without any back story of wrongs committed against him/his family.” Link

    I have not watched Holiday yet but looks like they changed the religion of the bad guy from Muslim to Christian from the Tamil to Hindi version.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiday:_A_Soldier_Is_Never_Off_Duty

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuppakki

  4. Ranjit Kumar 10 years ago

    in hindi version the name of the head of the sleeper cell is never mentioned..

  5. Author
    sunil 10 years ago

    I didnt talk about anti pakistan films.I talked about films with the main story of hero killing terrorists in films,and some muslim terorrists.The last film to succeed in this genre is sarfarosh.No film was a hit since tirangaa in 1993.Yes,in hindi the names of villains have been changed.But many were aware of original story.In the south this is not an issue.I think Akshya also nows that Holiday will not take a big opening.But Holiday is a wom hit,and that is really good.

    • Baba 10 years ago

      “Akshya also nows that Holiday will not take a big opening.But Holiday is a wom hit,and that is really good.”

      🙂

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