The most foolhardy decision that the Coolie No 1 team has taken is to postpone their release from Diwali to Christmas.
As one trade analyst who wishes to remain anonymous says, “They probably thought they were buying time by moving from Diwali to Christmas. Instead they are now biding their time waiting for the competition to bite their product in its ass.”
Indeed Coolie No 1 will now find itself in hot soup when 83 the cricket film about India’s 1983 World Cup victory with Ranveer Singh in the lead as Kapil Dev, hits theatres simultaneously.
83 clearly has an edge. Not just the lead pair, but the entire cast of 83 is far more impressive. Plus it’s a sports film and hence automatically a public favourite even before release. On the other hand, Coolie No 1 is a remake of a mediocre film uplifted by Govinda’s presence.
Given a choice, the audience will hardly pick a remake of a poor film over an original cricket film starring the most popular star-couple of Bollywood Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone.