This Friday, Akshay Kumar and Radhika Madan’s Sarfira released. Despite its big budget and star cast, the film did not perform well at the box office. The film earned 2.5 crores on the first day, 4.25 crores on Saturday, and 5.25 crores on Sunday, totalling 12 crores by the end of the weekend. This is quite low for a star like Akshay Kumar. Recently, many of Akshay Kumar’s films have been flops, and looking at the collection of Sarfira, it can be said that this is Akshay’s ninth flop. Last year, Akshay appeared in a small role in OMG 2, which was a hit, but the main character was played by Pankaj Tripathi. Aside from this, all Akshay’s films have failed at the box office.
In 2021, Akshay’s film Sooryavanshi was a big hit. Still, following that, films like Atrangi Re, Bachchan Pandey, Samrat Prithviraj, Raksha Bandhan, Cuttputlli (released on OTT), Ram Setu, Selfiee, OMG 2, Mission Raniganj, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, and now Sarfira have all flopped. Excluding Cuttputlli and OMG 2 which were released on OTT, Sarafira is Akshay’s ninth flop in the last four years.
Senior journalist Bharti Dubey says, “Most of the films Akshay has been doing were signed before or during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we all know, films and audience tastes have changed post-COVID. Despite Akshay’s good performances in many films, they have not done well. Secondly, I think Akshay should avoid remakes because their originals are released on OTT or YouTube, and audiences watch them, regardless of the language, which affects the collection of the remakes.”
Film trade expert Girish Wankhede points out three reasons for the film’s failure: “Why would people be interested in a film already available on OTT? Secondly, the marketing and promotion of the film were very poor. There were no interviews with Akshay or press conferences, and there was no buzz about the film. If an Akshay Kumar film’s first-day collection is only 2.5 crores, it questions his star power.”
On August 15, another Akshay Kumar film titled Khel Khel Mein will be released. However, there is no buzz about this film either. Additionally, John Abraham’s Veda and Rajkumar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree 2 are also releasing on the same day, which could be detrimental to the business of all these films.
