Remakes are suffering a disastrous fate in Bollywood post-covid. The latest victim is the Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo remake, Shehzada, starring the in-form Kartik Aaryan.
Kartik Aaryan turned out to be the savior of the sinking Bollywood last year when he delivered a blockbuster with Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. So the trade was expecting that Kartik Aaryan would again deliver a successful film and continue the momentum given by the blockbuster success of Pathaan.
But Shehzada turned out to be an utter disappointment. The first weekend of the film is mere Rs. 20 crores. The film is heading for a lifetime business of Rs. 35-40 crores net.
After the huge success of Pushpa, the north audience watched Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (with subtitles) on OTT platforms, and they were never interested in watching Kartik Aaryan reprising the role of Allu Arjun. And hence the remake fell flat on its face.
Now two more South remake movies will be released in the next few weeks. Akshay Kumar’s Selfiee is the remake of the Malayalam hit driving License and is releasing this week. The buzz around the film is zero, despite huge promotions by the cast and crew. The film will struggle to get a double-digit opening on its first day.
Ajay Devgn is coming up with an adapted version of the Tamil blockbuster Kaithi, titled Bholaa. Devgn is the only actor to deliver a blockbuster with a remake film in recent times.
The trade is expecting that he will repeat this feat again with Bholaa. The film is carrying decent buzz as of now because of its intriguing teaser. We have to wait and see if this buzz translates into ticket sales.
Yesterday another remake was announced, and this time, it is the Hindi remake of Pradeep Ranganathan’s sleeper hit, Love Today.
Bollywood should wake up and realize that remakes aren’t a safe bet anymore. The audience is now exposed to cinema from all over the world, thanks to OTT platforms. They don’t want to spend their hard-earned money and time watching a remake of a film that’s freely available on their laptops, TVs, and smartphones.
