Jagga Jasoos fails to deliver; producers could lose up to Rs 40 cr

Disney’s swansong Bollywood production may not be the high -flying success it would have hoped. Anurag Basu directed Jagga Jasoos which opened to cinema audiences on July 14 to a tepid start, with the opening day bringing in Rs 8.57 crore. After four days at the movies, the film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif has managed to rake in Rs 37 crore, making the lifetime collection prospects bleak. However, the studio can take solace from the fact that it is not the only entity to bear the loss. Both director Basu and lead actor Kapoor are co-producers on the film and will partake in the loss.

Mid last year, Disney pulled the plug on its Bollywood business, refusing to greenlight any scripts, focussing only on the projects that were in the pipeline. While there is no official confirmation on the fact, industry insiders believe that the failure of Hrithik Roshan starrer Mohenjo Daro caused the top bosses to take this step. It, of course, saw massive success with Aamir Khan starrer Dangal in December 2016, but Jagga Jasoos has failed to live up to the expectations.

The project, which went on floors in 2014, was mired with delays from the start. While shooting in Cape Town, the lead pair – Kapoor and Kaif reportedly had differences which not only caused delays in the shooting but also resulted in the scenes shot to be below the mark for director Basu. As a result, a lot of the script was re-shot.

The delays not only caused the release date of the film to be pushed back time and again, but also escalated the cost of production. A film that has been in production for three years has a cast with leading ‘A-list’ actors, a lauded director and multiple overseas locations, does not come cheap. Experts estimate that the cost of producing, including promotions and advertising, would be in the range of Rs 110 to 115 crore, a massive budget no doubt.

“This is not the first time in the recent past that Disney has released a film which has been in the making for just too long. In 2015, Fitoor suffered a similar fate. Both these films were not bad as products but were very badly budgeted. A good producer doesn’t only make good decisions to green-light a film, but also knows when to pull the plug, however, the dear the project may be,” says an analyst who preferred not to be named.

At Rs 37 crore in four days, and no major holidays in sight, in addition to heavy rains in many key states, the film’s lifetime collection may just about cross Rs 55-60 crore analysts believe. This is no way will cover the cost of the film. The only hope that the studio has to break-even (since profitability is not an option on this project anymore) is a good performance overseas. Ancillary revenues may help – digital, satellite, and music could add another Rs 45-50 crore to the total revenue. The loss for the producers then will amount to Rs 30-40 crore.

However, since the studio distributes and promotes Hollywood films in India, the overall movie business may not suffer a big blow due to the failure of Jagga Jasoos. Thus far, the House of Mouse has released three big banner Hollywood films in 2017 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Pirates of the Caribbean – Salazar’s Revenge and Cars 3. All three films have recovered costs and Guardians managed to make some profit, as did Cars 3.

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Jagga Jasoos fails to deliver; producers could lose up to Rs 40 cr