Akshay Kumar’s Ram Setu and Ajay Devgn’s Thank God clashed at the box office as they released on October 25. Trade experts predict who will win at the box office.

If we go by previous years’ box office figures of Diwali releases, it is pretty evident that the festive mood works in favour of the films. However, what happens after is entirely based on merit. Interestingly, this Diwali, Akshay Kumar’s Ram Setu is competing with Sidharth Malhotra and Ajay Devgn’s Thank God at the box office on October 25. While there is equal buzz surrounding both films, we wonder who will win at the box office on the opening day and throughout. We spoke to trade experts to get a better understanding of the same.
IT’S THANK GOD VERSUS RAM SETU THIS DIWALI!

For the uninitiated, this is not the first time that Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar’s films are clashing at the box office. It goes way back in 2009, when Ajay’s comedy All The Best: Fun Begins clashed with Akshay’s action-adventure Blue. Then again, in 2010, Golmaal 3 clashed with Akshay’s Action Replayy starring the latter. Both these times, Ajay’s films performed better than Khiladi Kumar’s. Film trade analyst Akshaye Rathi told IndiaToday.in, “It is possible that Ram Setu will do a bigger number today. What happens later will be based on the merits of the two films, obviously. But, I have raw faith in both the films’ directors. Abhishek Sharma has delivered some huge hits, while Indra Kumar is a mass entertainer. I would really not underestimate the potential of Thank God. But eventually, it comes down to how well the audience receive the film.”

Trade analyst Ramesh Bala added, “This time, Ram Setu has opened better. The occupancy level and the advance (booking) level is better, so it should do (a business of) Rs 15 crore nett today. Thank God’s occupancy level is lower than Ram Setu. It should probably do Rs 8 to 9 crore all India nett.”

Trade analyst Sumit Kadel echoed the same thoughts and said, “Both these films had decent opening. But Ram Setu was slightly better than Thank God. The spot bookings of Ram Setu is better than the latter. Now it all depends on the audience’s reviews.”
IT’S ALL IN THE CONTENT!

Trade analysts feel Ram Setu has better content than Thank God. Ramesh Bala said, “The content of Ram Setu is what the audience would like. It is a mass entertainer. It will be liked by a vast majority of people. It also has a religious angle to it with Lord Ram in the centre, so people will connect to it. The action is also favourable. Thank God, on the other hand, will benefit from word-of-mouth.”

Sumit Kadel added, “Thank God is not an out-and-out Ajay Devgn movie. The main lead of the film is Sidharth Malhotra and Ajay just has an extended cameo. It is not the same case with Ram Setu. There is a difference between both these films’ content. I feel the promotion should have been better for both of them.” He further said, “The content of Thank God is what we have already seen before in films like God Tussi Great Ho, etc. This is old news. However, Ram Setu is a fresh subject. But, it’s not great and just average.