Fan, Dilwale, Jai Ho were not hits. So how did the industry label them a hit? Catch explains

A lot has been spoken about the Box-Office performance of Shah Rukh Khan's Fan. While a section of the industry has labelled it a 'flop', a few others are of the opinion that it is an average grosser since YRF managed to recover the investment taking into account income from all sources.

Let us understand why both these opinions could be correct:

Fan was mounted on a huge budget of Rs 105 crore inclusive of print and publicity, excluding Shah Rukh Khan's fee since the actor often participates in profit sharing with production houses.

Out of this Rs 105 crore, the amount recovered by YRF theatrically is Rs 36 crore (India share) + Rs 30 crore (Overseas share) which leaves a deficit of Rs 39 crore to break even. Since YRF are producing as well distributing the film themselves, they recovered a reasonable amount via sale of satellite rights and home video. If we take into account revenue from all sources, the production house might just manage to break even or even entail minor profits.

But should that be the barometer for a verdict?

Film verdicts in India are often given from the producers' perspective. However, I truly believe that the distributor share should be the barometer for the film verdict and not the amount recovered by producers. In 90 out of 100 cases, producers will entail profits/break even. It is the distributors who will entail heavy losses.

In the case of Fan, YRF distributed the film and despite it being a flop theatrically, major losses have not been incurred for either distributors or producers thanks to revenue from all sources. However, there is no denying the fact that the film under-performed at the ticket window and the same cannot be justified.

Film Exhibitor Harsh Jain from the Sanman Group says,

"Theatrically, Fan has failed to live up to the expectations. Even if we take revenue from all sources, the film is just an average fair for YRF mainly because of satellite rights. They have recovered the cost and might incur bare minimum profits.

Fan failed due to numerous reasons; however, the biggest reason is that audiences have rejected it in India. People missed the presence of a heroine in the film and even the song JabraFan was missed during the narration. I also feel that there has been a general dislike for SRK after his controversial statement, which in my opinion is stupid, but the same is harming the trade in a big way."