'Vikram Vedha' gets a lukewarm response: Can budget be the reason why Hindi remakes of South movies are faring poorly?

The underwhelming performance of recent Hindi film 'Vikram Vedha' (2022)- a re-make of Tamil film of the same name - has triggered discussions about the "efficiency" of budget or cost of Hindi re-makes of southern films. This is despite the fact that the sentiments associated with the film have been positive enough for trade analysts to anticipate good collections. But the film did not generate revenues sufficient enough to break even at the box office. As a result, trade analysts estimate that the film's high budget may be a key reason for its unsatisfactory performance. In fact, going by the performance of Hindi re-makes of southern films a consensus has developed among trade analysts that 'budget' or 'cost' has resulted in unsatisfactory performance of Hindi re-makes at the box office.

Venkatesh Subramaniam, a trade analyst, said, "Sentiments about 'Vikram Vedha' have been quite positive. Critics praised the film. It boasts of star value with a never-before-seen pair of superstars - Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan at the helm. The story is larger-than-life and made well in the Hindi film idiom. Importantly, going by reviews of the film, there is a unanimous view that the Hindi re-make is quite faithful to the original Tamil film.

Despite these factors, the Hindi re-make of the Tamil film has made over Rs 72 crore (in ten days of its release) on budget of Rs 175 crore." He said, " The original Tamil film was made in the range of Rs 10-15 crore. The genre of the film is not fantasy or epic. It needs realistic locations. So, why was the film mounted on such a scale? It is clear that the budget of the film was too high for it to emerge as a success."

Trade analysts point to the high cost of recent Hindi re-makes of southern films to high remuneration of actors and their entourage. These costs have escalated the overall budget of Hindi re-makes. Atul Mohan, trade analyst, said, "Remuneration of actors and their entourage is a reason which has not only added to budget of Hindi re-makes but also caused delays in the making, escalating costs even more." He said, "A lot has been talked about how a film fares at the box office. Today, stars increase remuneration by at least Rs 5-10 crore when they deliver a hit at the box office. This adds to budget of a film especially when it is a re-make. This was not the case with yesteryear's stars. There was a time when stars such as Dharmendra and Jeetendra charged Rs 5 lakh for a long time. They never increased their remuneration even after delivering hits for years. This kept their films' budget efficient and tight. And that is how most people in the business made money."

Agreeing with the high cost of the film, film producer and trade analyst Girish Johar said, "It is an ironical thing. The content of 'Vikram Vedha' has not failed. It is the film's budget which is quite high (in three digits). Also the original Tamil film which was made at a much lower budget than the Hindi film is a cult film. Producers must do due diligence about budget of a film. They should ensure that a film's budget is in sync with its milieu. People have loved 'Vikram Vedha' (2022). It is because of its budget the film's performance at the box office was underwhelming."