PremiumKaatera release date - Should Darshan's film be worried about Salaar and Dunki? Internet answers...
Challenging Star Darshan's film will have the advantage of releasing a week after Dunki and Salaar do and also carry the privilege of being the sole Kannada film in the mix.
Last Updated: 08.49 PM, Nov 29, 2023
With Challenging Star Darshan's 'Kaatera' set to release in theatres on December 29th, the mega 'year-ender' box office clash has gotten all the more intriguing.
A week prior to Kaatera's arrival in cinemas, two of India's reigning superstars, Shah Rukh Khan and Prabhas, will beckon audiences to the theatres with their films 'Dunki' and 'Salaar' respectively. And considering that both these releases boast a strong potential to command the box office completely at will, it would be mighty interesting to see the impact that 'Kaatera' is likely to bring in Karnataka.
Of course, Darshan's film will have the advantage of releasing a week after Dunki and Salaar do and also carry the privilege of being the sole Kannada film in the mix. But the Karnataka box office has proven to be extremely tricky over the years. Cineastes in the region are known to support cinema as a whole and not cling to a specific language, meaning that Kaatera will have a say only on the strength of its merit and positive reviews from both critics & audiences.
And Challenging Star Darshan isn't alien to a situation of this kind. His most recent release, Kranti, arrived at the box office a day after Shah Rukh Khan's 'Pathaan' did and although the former claimed a wide fanbase and viewership of his own, poor critical reception hampered the film's progress. As a result, 'Kranti' failed to yield the expected results at the box office.
But every 'DBoss' film traces a journey of its own and 'Kaatera' may not carry the burden of 'Kranti' on its back when it hits the big screens. As soon as the release date was confirmed by Tharun Sudhir, comments came flooding in from Kannada moviegoers with a good chunk of them promising to give Kaatera priority over the other two releases.
Will Team Dunki or Team Salaar be wary of Kaatera? Well, both those films have the edge of being 'pan Indian' releases which means Karnataka isn't the only area of focus now. That said, with a Kannada filmmaker in Prashanth Neel at the helm for Salaar, the region comes into the realm and let's not forget the popularity that Prabhas commands in the state. For many moviegoers out there, it is currently 'Salaar vs Kaatera' at the box office because Dunki does not exactly fit into the 'mass movie' category.
Co-written and directed by Rajkumar Hirani, Dunki follows a group of Indian dreamers who enter a foreign illegally through the "back door" (an immigration technique apparently named 'Donkey Fight') and later struggle to return home as a result. Known for his comedies that are quite often emotionally charged, namely Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, 3 Idiots and Sanju, Rajkumar Hirani promises yet another joyous ride at the movies with 'Dunki'. But the film may not be the magnum opus that both Salaar and Kaatera promise to be.
The bottom line, though, is that it's a battle of quality and whichever film(s) is able to hold its own on that parameter alone, is likely to emerge a winner. After all, audiences are raring to throng to theatres like never before and there won't be any dearth of excitement among them for any of the aforementioned films.