MUMBAI: Sajid Khan’s ‘Himmatwala’ can very well be claimed to be one of the worst films we’ve seen in a decade. It is crass, loud, and garish. Once again, Sajid Khan has outdone himself by creating such a brainless and distasteful comedy.
This repeatedly brought the question to many minds… Why did these Sajid Khan films work at the box office, in the past?
If one notices, except for ‘Heyy Babyy’ which released in August 2007, all of Khan’s films have released during holidays. Both the ‘Housefull’ films released in April 2010 and 2012 respectively. The only film that released with ‘Housefull’ in 2010 was the nondescript ‘Chase’, while in 2012 ‘Housefull-2’ released solo on 5 April 2012.
Notice how Khan’s films release only during holidays, mostly in the summer after the board exams? Also see how there are no other significant releases alongside his films that could cater to our summer entertainment needs? Once again we have ‘Himmatwala’, that has released mid-summer and is the only film to release this weekend.
In a situation where beggars can’t be choosers; the audiences are left with no option – so to speak they opt for a “forced entertainment”. No wonder we hear Sajid Khan saying confidently: “No Sajid Khan movie can be a flop.”
‘Himmatwala’ opened to extremely negative reviews from critics and the public alike. The movie was trashed on Twitter:
The film industry has played an elaborate April Fools joke by releasing Himmatwala.
— That Goan Boy (@schmmuck) April 1, 2013
You have got to hand it to Bollywood for audacity. First, they make a hideous monstrosity called Himmatwala. Then they remake it.
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) March 24, 2013
The tiger who acted in Sajid Khan’s Himmatwala … Is now considering leaving Bollywood and going back to the Zoo .His career is Ruined
— Angry Bombay Girl (@shadymumbai) March 31, 2013
Sajid Khan still has a chance to redeem himself if he comes out today and declares Himmatwala an April Fools joke.
— Kartik Dayanand (@KartikDayanand) April 1, 2013
But, Sajid Khan’s strategy has always worked in the past – from ‘Heyy Babyy’, ‘Housefull’ and ‘Housefull -2’ all were in the ‘Top 10 Highest Grossing Films’ of the years that they released in; irrespective of the reviews the films received. One thing is becoming clear, Sajid Khan may be a disturbingly bad film maker but he sure knows how to make a block buster hit…
But does he really?
Usually, we see the Box Office Collections of a film increase over the weekend but that doesn’t seem to be the case with ‘Himmatwala’. Come weekend, day two and day three of ‘Himmatwala’ at the Box Office has seen a drastic drop in collections consecutively! Looks like the bad word of mouth is not boding well for the film.
‘Himmatwala’s downfall is slowly proving that we are finally choosing to put our foot down and are demanding for smarter films with more substance. It looks like we are finally choosing to do something far more entertaining and productive than watching a Sajid Khan film.
Your view:
Is ‘Himmatwala’ turning to be an exception to Sajid Khan’s ‘Forced’ Box Office successes?
