With Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy creating a thriving fandom ahead of its release on Thursday, 14 February - it wouldn’t be too surprising if it swept in a grand opening at the box office.
According to film trade analyst Girish Johar, the Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer is expected to earn about Rs 15 crore on its opening day itself and will maintain a stronghold thereafter, through a positive word of mouth, The Indian Express reported.
“They will be attracted to the film very strongly. Rest is definitely based on the word of mouth,” he added.
Johar also said that Ranveer Singh, who plays ‘Murad’ - is definitely a crowd-puller for the film.
“Ranveer Singh is the draw. I don’t think anyone else would have created this style of hype with the character which he is playing in the film,” he told The Indian Express.
He also said that it was a wise move on Ranveer’s part to promote the film “aggressively” - especially in upcoming metro cities like Lucknow, Kanpur and Agra - in an attempt to attract the youth of the city to watch the film. This is a good strategy, Johar said.
Adding to this, another factor that will work in favour of Gully Boy’s performance at the box office, is the “lacklustre performance of the previous week’s films”.
“There’s a small film, Hum Chaar by Rajshri Films but it poses no competition to Ranveer-Alia starrer. If Gully Boy is done well, it will be a novelty for today’s youth. They have seen hip hop only in the dance films and nothing has been made on this form of music recently,” Johar told The Indian Express.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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