Poor Opening Of Sarkar Raj Not A Surprise

Jun 7, 2008

There had been expectations of a huge opening from Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar Raj but it was never on the cards. The media and makers of Sarkar Raj had these expectations because they had put Sarkar in the same brackets as films like Hera Pheri, Munnabhai MBBS and Koi Mil Gaya as the sequels to these films were hugely awaited by the public. The problem here is the impact of Sarkar was not close to those films. Koil Mil Gaya was a huge hit so Krrish was always going to be a craze, Munnabhai MBBS was a hit but more importantly the film remained hugely popular after its run in the theatres which led to its sequel Lage Raho Munnabhai being eagerly awaited.

The box office run of Hera Pheri was similar to Sarkar but the impact of Hera Pheri after release was phenomenal as it ruled the DVD/VCD charts like no other film before or after it which led to Phir Hera Pheri opening to a bumper response.

Sarkar was a just a hit in parts of India and average to above average affair overall and the film was no Hera Pheri or Munnabhai MBBS after release so it was never going to open big. Most in the trade did expect it to open well in Mumbai so the below average opening there was a surprise.

The fate of Sarkar Raj will now depend on its merit as the makers obviously over estimated the popularity of the first Sarkar and spent nearly 30 crore on a sequel of a not so popular film