The Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Maidaan’ is set to hit screens on April 11. According to Ramesh Bala, an Industry tracker, the film is expected to collect between Rs 7 crore and Rs 10 crore on its first day in India.
“Probably 7-10 crores day 1 nett in India. 7-10 crores is my expectation” Bala told The Daily Guardian.
If these estimates hold, it will fail to beat Shaitaan. The Vikas Behl film collected nearly Rs 15 crore on the first day.
Despite this, Maidaan has the potential to resonate with a class as well as a mass audience in the long run.
“See basically, its target audience are people interested in sports and drama. It will reach the wider audience. You know both mass and class, strictly urban and rural,” he said.
Ramesh Bala further said the fact that Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is releasing on the same day might have an adverse impact on Maidaan, at least initially.
“But since ‘bade miyan’ (Bade Miyan Chote Miyan) is also releasing on the same day, we have to see how the audience is going to turn up. Probably they will turn up slowly being a sports genre,” he added.
According to the tracker, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan will have the upper hand because it is a multistatter and features mass elements. This should help it put up better numbers on the first day. He added that there is a competition between the films for screen sharing as well.
“Basically both of them are going to share screens, both multiplexes and single screens. Solo release means it would have gotten more screens and more shows so it would have done more. But in a competition of the multi-starrer kind of typical all-friendly genre, basically let me a take a bigger opening and let me attract more audience. In the long run, eventually both can do well. But just on the Day 1, since the audiences like mass action and songs and dance it is a competition” he said.
The situation, however, might change once the word-of-mouth comes into play as positive reviews could help Maidaan pick up in the long run.
“It not being a solo release and with a competition which is a whole mass-friendly genre, so it(Bade Miyan Chote Miyan) will have an impact till the five day, but hopefully, it (Maidaan) can compensate in the later dates,” he added.
‘Maidaan’ is an biographical sports drama film directed by Amit Ravindernath Sharma and written by Akash Chawla, Sidhant Mago and Saiwyn Quadras. It stars Ajay Devgn as Syed Abdul Rahim who was Indian football coach and manager of the Indian national team and is regarded as the architect of modern Indian football. The film also stars Priyamani, Gajraj Rao and Nitanshi Goel.
It is set to open in theatres this Eid.
