‘The box office collection of Radhe will be zero’

Superstar Salman Khan hosted a Zoom Video call yesterday with a bunch of journalists where he talked about his upcoming release, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. He was said to be very patient and amicable, listening to all the queries in a pleasant mood. He started the conversation with  “Thank God for Zoom calls, nahin toh hum sabko corona ho jata”. 

The synopsis of the conversation was the discussion on the devastating state of the nation and its effects on the film industry and of course, the possible box office outcome of Radhe. Most of the film producers across the nation are pushing back their releases as cinemas are currently in an inoperative state due to the second wave of the pandemic. And, Radhe is releasing in a not so favourable time which is why Salman, who is also the producer of the film said that they are losing money due to non-existent theatrical releases.

But Salman Khan always guarantees his fans to release a new film on Eid, no matter what. In order to keep his Eid commitment with fans, the superstar was left with no other option but to release Radhe on ZEE’s pay per view service and on all leading DTH operators. He said without the support of ZEE, he couldn’t have kept his Eid commitment with fans. “It was important to release the film at a time like this because people are suffering due to the pandemic. Incomes have reduced for many, so now, instead of spending a lot of money on tickets at the cinemas, people can watch it at a much cheaper rate at home. I want to provide some entertainment to people at a grim time like this,” Salman said.

He further added “I apologise to cinema owners who were hoping to earn profits with the release of this film. We waited as long as we could, hoping that this pandemic would end and we would be able to release in theatres all over the country. But that did not happen. We don’t know when things will go back to normal”. 

“The box office collection of Radhe will be zero, this will be the lowest ever for a Salman Khan film. Let people be happy or sad with that. It is releasing in very few cinemas in India, overseas also the number of theatres are less than usual. So the box office collection will be very poor,” he said. He further remembered his theatre fans who might be left upset.  “I know people are disappointed that they will not be able to watch Radhe on the big screen. Some people have booked auditoriums and are planning to screen my film, which I won’t encourage because I don’t want people to say ‘Salman Khan ki picture dekhne gaye aur corona phail gaya’. Once this pandemic is over and theatres reopen, if people like the film, we will try to release it on the big screen,” he said.

On the other hand, Radhe will have 700 plus shos in UAE and Saudi Arabia which is one of the biggest releases in the history of Indian cinema. The film is all set for a huge opening overseas.