‘Sikandar Sealed Salman’s Fate’

‘Salman’s
bad
phase
is
going
on
for
the
last
five-six
years.’

There
is
no
respite
for
the
Hindi
film
industry
as
Salman
Khan’s
biggie

Sikandar
flopped
miserably,
adding
to
the


flops
piling
up
at
the
box
office.

Chhaava
is
the
only
big
hit
of
2025
so
far.

Is
Bollywood
in
trouble?

“For
a
film
like

Sikandar,
a
distributor
has
to
shell
out
Rs
30
crore
(Rs
300
million)
for
the
Mumbai
territory,
which
is
huge
money,”
explains
movie
trade
guru

Amod
Mehra.

“If

Sikandar
does
not
work,
the
money
goes
down
the
drain,”
Mehra
tells

Syed
Firdaus
Ashraf/Rediff.

Only
one
hit
so
far,

Chhaava.
Even
Salman
Khan’s

Sikandar
could
not
revive
the
box
office.

Salman’s
bad
phase
is
going
on
for
the
last
five-six
years.
It’s
not
that
you’re
seeing
his
films
flop
all
of
a
sudden.

But
is
he
not
a
big
brand
name?

Yes,
he
is.
Brand
Salman
is
a
different
story
but
as
a
star,
he
has
been
fading
for
quite
some
time.

After
COVID,
his
films
like

Radhe,
Race
3
and

Kisi
Ka
Bhai,
Kisi
Ki
Jaan
did
not
work
at
the
box
office
the
way
they
should
have.

Sikandar
just
sealed
his
fate.

What
is
Salman’s
future?

He
is
60
years
old,
and
has
had
a
very
good
innings.
He
will
play
the
brother’s
or
father’s
role.

Amitabh
Bachchan
(who
is
82)
is
still
acting
and
doing
well.
Even
he
had
to
retire
(as
a
hero)
at
60.

He
reinvented
himself
in

Mohabattein
(by
playing
Aishwarya
Rai’s
father).

The
career
of
an
actor
does
not
die
but
the
career
of
a
star
dies.
Stars
fade
away
but
an
actor
always
will
be
an
actor.

In
the
past,
Dharmendra
did
a
movie
called

Yaadon
Ki
Baraat
where
he
played
an
elder
brother.

The
same
holds
true
for
Aamir
Khan
who
has
been
doing
character
roles
for
the
last
10
years.
He
has
not
played
a
romantic
role
in
all
this
time.

Does
this
happen
to
every
star?

This
is
the
law
of
nature.
Everything
that
goes
up
comes
down.

Superstars
fade
away
with
age.

The
sooner
they
do
it
gracefully,
the
better
it
is
for
them.

So
what
happens
to
say,
Brand
Aamir
Khan?

He
is
producing
two
films,

Lahore
and

Sitare
Zameen
Par.

In
both
movies,
he
plays
character
roles.

Is
it
not
very
disappointing
that
only

Chhaava
has
worked
at
the
box
office
in
2025
so
far?
Is
there
a
sense
of
disillusionment
in
the
film
industry?

Yes,
because
people
are
not
going
to
theatres.

Take
Sunny
Deol’s

Jaat.
It’s
said
that
Rs
9.5
crore
(Rs
95
million)
was
collected
on
the
first
day
but
that
is
not
the
case.

It
has
not
collected
more
than
Rs
3.5
crore
(Rs
35
million)
on
the
first
day.

People
did
not
turn
up
to
watch
the
movie
in
theatres.

Why?

The
film
has
no
story.

There
is
only
action,
meaningless
action.

The
villains
are
saying
sorry
for
no
reason.

At
the
end
of
the
day,
it
was
the
public
who
said
sorry
to
Sunny
and
did
not
go
to
the
theatres
to
watch
the
film.

Are
we
making
losses
because
there
are
no
good
scripts?

We
are
not
making
good
cinema.
We
are
not
putting
any
heart
and
soul
into
making
cinema.

The
stakes
are
very
high,
so
people
are
making
films
based
on
mathematics
rather
than
from
their
hearts.

They
are
seeing
their
(account)
books
first
and
then
making
a
movie.

Earlier,
producers
would
mortgage
their
homes
to
make
a
film.
They
had
passion.

Now,
there
is
no
passion
in
a
Bollywood
producer,
as
he
only
thinks
about
economics.

So
are
producers
failing
the
film
industry?

There
are
various
reasons.

Besides
producers,
there
are
the
film
distributors.
(Distributors
buy
films
from
producers
and
distribute
them
in
territories
across
India).

Distributors
are
distributing
films
based
on
commission
now,
so
that
they
don’t
lose
anything.

Earlier,
a
man
like
Raj
Kapoor,
who
would
produce
films,
had
his
own
set
of
distributors.
They
would
give
him
suggestions
on
what
would
work
and
what
would
not.

Producers
took
them
very
seriously.
But
today,
that
system
is
broken.

There
are
only

chamchas
who
buy
films
on
commission
and
do
‘wah
wah’,
thus
keeping
the
reality
away
from
producers.
So
they
have
no
idea
what
works
on
ground.

How
does
a
distributor
make
money?
Can
you
please
explain?

A
film
gets
distributed
in
say,
five
territories.
The
Mumbai
territory
gets
a
30
percent
margin.

So
a
distributor
from
Mumbai
has
to
pay
30
percent
to
the
producer
for
releasing
his
film.

If
the
film
does
well,
the
distributor
can
earn
up
to
50
to
60
percent.

Even
if
the
film
does
not
do
well,
it
will
make
25
percent
in
the
Mumbai
territory
for
sure.

The
loss
of
5
percent
he
would
make
up
in
the
producer’s
next
film.

But
today,
the
costs
have
ballooned
so
much
that
it
is
difficult
to
be
a
distributor.

For
a
film
like

Sikandar,
a
distributor
has
to
shell
out
Rs
30
crore
(Rs
300
million)
for
the
Mumbai
territory,
which
is
huge
money.

If

Sikandar
does
not
work,
the
money
goes
down
the
drain.

Today,
the
stakes
are
very
high
and
distributors
cannot
survive
by
purchasing
a
movie.

How
does
the
commission
system
work
these
days
for
distributors?

Now,
they
don’t
have
to
give
any
money
to
the
producer.
He
will
release
the
film
and
ask
for
2
to
3
percent
commission
if
the
film
makes
money.

So
the
distributor
is
not
risking
his
money.

If
the
film
is
in
a
loss,
the
distributors
will
not
get
any
commission.

This
has
resulted
in
the
business
model
where
film
producers
are
slowly
dying.

So
who
is
producing
films
today?

Corporates.
But
they
are
bleeding
and
Jio
Studios
is
the
biggest
loser.

Mukesh
Ambani
has
lost
between
Rs
500
crore
to
Rs
1,000
crore
(Rs
5
billion
to
Rs
10
billion).

Which
films?

There
are
many.
The
latest
that
I
can
recall
is
Varun
Dhawan’s

Baby
John.

Other
corporates
like
Eros
and
20th
Century
Fox
have
folded
up.

Dharma
Productions
sold
50
percent
stake
to
Adar
Poonawalla.

Producer
Kumar
Mangat
has
gone
to
the
stock
market
to
raise
money.

Is
that
why
films
are
re-releasing
in
theatres?

Re-releases
are
also
not
making
huge
money.

About
50
people
watch
them
in
theatres,
but
it
does
not
even
recover
the
cost
of
the
air
conditioning.

How
do
you
bring
the
passion
back
to
the
film
industry?

Producers
have
disappeared
from
Bollywood,
what
will
you
do
with
a
script
writer
or
an
actor?

Earlier,
there
were
producers
like
Venus,
TIPS
and
Time.

Even
Yash
Raj
is
not
announcing
many
new
films.
At
present,
there
are
only
two:
Alia
Bhatt’s

Alpha
and

War
2.