It’s Khel Khel Mein, a film where Akshay Kumar is in his favourite zone of comedy. Yet, the film didn’t really do well at the box office. It’s baffling since Akshay usually doesn’t go wrong in this genre. But let’s get into why it may have gone wrong.
Khel Khel Mein is yet another remake, this time of the Italian film “Perfect Strangers”. This stigma of remakes often makes the viewer skeptical, for he longs for something original. They are quickly drawn to compare it with its original, usually not too favourably, which diminishes all the appeal out of the film. The same stigma also caught up with Sarfira, another remake, which failed in the theatres. The film boasted a cast of renowned actors, yet it failed to attract the crowds into the theatres and suffered a major loss.
Interestingly, Sarfira managed to get a second life on OTT platforms, where it received a better reception. Medium shift speaks volumes about the changing dynamics of viewership here. As a general thing, people are more accommodating towards remakes if they can see them from the comfort of their homes. A similar case in point could be the growth trajectory seen in Khel Khel Mein. The rise of the film in Netflix’s Global Top 10 shows that probably the medium was the problem and not the content.
Although Khel Khel Mein did not take well at the box office, it has apparently found new life on the OTT platforms. The film has entered the Global Top 10 (non-English films) on Netflix. This means perhaps it wasn’t met with disinterest at the box office but it had more to do with its marketing and release.
Had it been realized as a direct-to-OTT movie, Khel Khel Mein might have fared even better. The thrill of watching something on OTT platforms is altogether different and easy. Movies with solid casts and interesting plots do pretty well on OTT platforms.
Just having big names does not guarantee box office success because, after all, it comes down to content and whether the audience is really ready to watch the product that you’re offering. Khel Khel Mein might not have been movie material, but its reception on Netflix shows there is still something there.
Do you feel the stigma of the remake played a massive role, or was it just bad timing?
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