Radhe's 4.2 million streams don't equal ₹100 cr; revenue overestimated

Salman Khan had asserted that the box office collections of his new film, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, would be 'zero' in India. But how much money did the film actually end up generating?

Radhe was given a cross-platform digital release in India, after its theatrical rollout was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film's streaming rights were sold to Zee Studios, which released it in a pay-per-view model on ZeePlex. The film was also made available on DTH platforms, and played in three theatres in Tripura.

Trade analyst Komal Nahta has said in a new video that the fan-estimated figure of ₹100 crore opening day revenue is grossly inaccurate. This estimation was made on the basis of data shared by Zee Studios, that the film had been streamed 4.2 million times across platforms on day one of release.

Komal said that there are multiple reasons why the revenue is much less than ₹100 crore. He noted an asterisk next to the figure on the poster, which specified that the estimation was based 'on industry standards'. Komal said that this means the actual number of tickets purchased is much lesser, as every ticket (worth ₹249) would accommodate multiple members of the same family.

"Zee had also allowed new subscribers to watch the film without purchasing a ticket, which means that in this 4.2 million figure, there are people who haven't actually bought a ticket for Radhe," he said in Hindi. "Industry standards dictate that with every ticket sold, four-five family members watch the film, so only one-fourth of the 4.2 million are actual tickets sold."

He said that all this is based on speculation, and that perhaps even Zee Studios doesn't know how much the film made on opening day. And while they stand to earn every rupee that the film makes on ZeePlex, they will have to share revenue with DTH providers.

He noted that Salman had sold the rights prior to the film's release, and that Zee has the film for 10 years. "The estimation that the film could make over ₹200 crore in the first three or four weeks is not accurate. This isn't the earning, because the ₹80-100 crore that would've come from theatres has been wiped out in an instant," he said, adding that Radhe is by no means a 'break-even film' in the short term, but it could make a profit in the long run.

He said that Zee purchased the rights for around ' ₹200-225 crore', and that they stand to make around ₹15 crore from the music rights, around ₹40-50 crore from satellite rights, and around ₹10-15 crore from international theatres.