Shah Rukh Khan starrer Jab Harry Met Sejal (JHMS) had hit the screens on August 4 amidst huge hype, but the Imtiaz Ali directorial failed to impress the audience and has been making average collections at the box office.
The movie was expected to break the dull phase of Bollywood as well as Shah Rukh Khan. Though everything seemed right, the film failed to get a big opening. The catchy mini trailers had created a huge hype around the movie and the expectations were sky high but the movie failed to live up to it.
Here are some of the factors behind Jab Harry Met Sejal's poor performance at the box office.
1. Weak and sluggish script
The biggest drawback of Jab Harry Met Sejal is its cliché story and weak screenplay. Though the first half was somewhat entertaining, on the whole, the film's narration was dull. The first 10 minutes of the movie are good as it introduces Shah Rukh Khan as a tour guide, but the very entry of Anushka Sharma is disappointing.
Sejal (Anushka) is on a European trip with all her family members. All of them leave for their native, and she alone starts searching for her lost ring. The film fails to connect with the audience, as there cannot be such a thing happening around you.
2. Too many songs spoil the film
Jab Harry Met Sejal has eight songs and some of them just seem to be out of place. It rather looks like a musical genre than a romantic comedy. The songs instead of taking forward the plot, rather disrupt the flow of the movie making the audience lose the little interest they had.
3. Darkness featured in the film
Romantic dramas reflect happiness and brightness. But Jab Harry Met Sejal suffers from the darkness. The movie features a lot of club and night time scenes which don't offer a euphoric feeling that we expect from a film like this. This darkness adds a lot to the dullness of the movie.
4. Imtiaz Ali's direction
Imtiaz Ali is known for his complicated stories that cater to a limited audience. The director cannot cast his magic spell on a large section of the audience and it is proved time and again in his recent venture.
5. Shah Rukh Khan's role
The heroes of his generation have moved on to play the roles that suit their age, but 51-year-old Shah Rukh Khan thinks that he can still romance a heroine of half his age and impress the present generation. Though his fans were happy about the movie, many filmgoers of the present generation could not connect with him. It is a high time for SRK to rethink about his image as king of romance. He should choose films that suit his age.
6. High expectations
The biggest reason for the movie's failure is its promotion. The makers of Jab Harry Met Sejal adopted several unique strategies for its publicity. Its promos had created a lot of curiosity and raised expectations but the movie miserably failed to meet them.
7. Limited screen count
Jab Harry Met Sejal had a solo release from Bollywood and there were no big ticket releases from regional film industries like Tamil and Telugu to compete with it. The film was released in less than 4,000 screens across the globe. The movie could have been easily released in over 7,000 screens, which could have definitely helped it fetch bigger collections than the present numbers at the box office.
8. Piracy
Piracy is another reason for the film's poor performance at the box office. Though the makers had taken all the precautionary measures, the movie was leaked online. After the movie opened to mixed reviews, many moviegoers opted to watch the film in pirated version than in theatre which further affected the collection.
