Rajkumar Hirani on Salaar vs Dunki clash.Director Rajkumar Hirani has addressed the recent box office clash between his film "Dunki" and Prabhas starrer "Salaar." While "Dunki" premiered on December 21, "Salaar" hit cinemas a day later, enjoying immense success with a staggering opening day collection of Rs 95 crore across all languages. In contrast, "Dunki" secured Rs 30 crore on its opening day.
Discussing the clash, Hirani acknowledged the challenges faced by both films, stating, “From a producer’s perspective, there are a limited number of theaters in the country. Every viewer may not have enough money to watch films back-to-back or on consecutive days. There are certain people that make a choice to see one film in a week or even a month. So, I am sure at some level it affects both the films.”
Hirani emphasized that clashes are unavoidable at times due to the calendar's limitations. “In a clash, business is affected. But there is no option to that because there are 52 weeks and 200 films made. There would be clashes. Sometimes bigger films would clash and sometimes smaller. All these kinds of things will continue happening. There is no escape from that,” added the filmmaker.
In an earlier exclusive conversation, Hirani revealed Shah Rukh Khan's perspective on "Dunki." Shah Rukh, aware that the film deviated from the action film trend, anticipated a slow start at the box office. Hirani shared, “After doing two back-to-back action films, Shah Rukh was looking forward to Dunki. He was happy doing something like this. Shah Rukh is an intelligent man and was aware that people were following a trend and liking action films. He had always told me not to expect huge numbers at the box office initially. He knew it was a slow burner and the audience and family would eventually lap up to the film and start coming in. More than anyone, he was preparing me, and that is what exactly happened. We have seen many families coming together to theaters to watch the film.”