So, Bollywoodhungama.com just posted an analysis of the second weekend Dilwale numbers. They see the limp box office for Dilwale and good word of mouth for Bajirao as a sign that Shahrukh should take a moment and think about doing something a little different, instead of just relying on his star quality to carry the picture, because the audience is obviously tired of the same old thing. I agree with their analysis of the box office numbers and all, but I think they are missing the bigger picture. Maybe Dilwale released when it did BECAUSE he wants to different films, and needed to rush a traditional one out the door first.
I also think, beyond the Bajirao clash, Dilwale could have benefited from maybe one more shooting schedule and another couple passes at the editing. But there is no real good solution for him in terms of a release date if he wanted to take longer. He could have bumped it to Valentine’s, I suppose, but that is less of a family release date holiday. And he wanted to get Fan out in April, and two very different Shahrukh films right next to each other is a bad idea. Plus, there’s the IPL season happening right then. And then the next big holiday would be Eid, in early July, which he has already bookmarked for Raees, his first Muslim film since My Name is Khan, it has to come out then. And then we are looking at sitting on this completed film for almost a year, waiting for Deewali 2016.
In a perfect world, I would say, he should have announced for Deewali 2016, which is the perfect date for this kind of family friendly film, plus he always takes Deewali, and it would give them time for another shooting schedule, maybe another song sequence, and better editing and script work. But that would mean 2 years with no major SRK release. Which is unacceptable, BECAUSE he wants to start doing something different. Where does the money come from to support the artsy films like Fan and Raees? It’s going to be coming from Dilwale. He can’t make and promote them the way he wants to unless he has something in the bank already (both in terms of actual money, and proven box office success).
And he wasn’t looking for a record breaking hit here, he was looking for a safe one. Rohit Shetty is a hit machine, plus he has the inside track in the Devgun household, which gets him Kajol. Just the three names together, Shetty-Kajol-Shahrukh, guarantees a good (if not record breaking) box office. If he was looking for a real record breaker, he would have spent more than 5 months on it. Hungama says it should be a wake-up call to him, that he can’t just throw a film out with his star power and assume it will land. But he knows that! He learned that back with Asoka and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and had it re-affirmed in a big way with Ra.One. He poured his heart and soul into those pictures and they still crashed, he’s not going to be counting on a huge hit from some thing he tossed off in a few months. No, this is just a stage setting film for the ones he really cares about, Fan and Raees.
Looking at it that way, the schedule makes a lot more sense. He had Fan basically finished and in the bag, before he even announced Dilwale, and Raees was half done. Ignore the release dates, look at the conception dates. Dilwale came last, and was made in a rush and released in a hurry so it could support the other films that were already in the pipeline. He’s already made the decision to be different, he made it almost two years ago right after Happy New Year when he committed to Fan. He’s just getting the rest of the world used to it by bringing out a big blockbuster first.
The article compares him with Aamir, but they forget that between 3
Idiots and
Dhoom 3, Aamir made
Peepli Live,
Dhobi Ghat,
Delhi Belly, and
Talaash. And post-
PK, he did the voice for
Dil Dhadekne Do, and now he is working on
Dangal, which all signs point to being more on the
Talaash side of things than the
PK side. Not every “different” movie can be a hit, but you need the hits in order to support the different ones. Heck, post-
Chak De, Shahrukh hurried to release
Rab Ne Bana di Jodi and placate his traditional fanbase.
Salman, who
they mention as taking a risk with
Bajrangi Bhaijaan, did the same thing. He made
Kick, a huge stupid hit, which gave him the star power in the bank to survive the qualified failure of
Jai Ho and take a risk on
Bajrangi Bhaijaan and
Prem Ratan. You can’t just look at it film by film, you have to look at the big picture. I am sure that’s how all 3 Khans are looking at it. You don’t last 25 years in this industry by just going day by day.
dontcallitbollywood 
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