Pune/ Mumbai: With around Rs 200-250 crore riding on Salman Khan's upcoming movies and endorsements, the Jodhpur court's judgement has left his fans and industry worried.
The actor is currently shooting for 'Race 3', produced by Ramesh Taurani and his production house. The film is said to be made on a budget of Rs 100 crore and 10 per cent of the shooting is remaining. The film is being touted as the big Eid release in 2018.
Post Race 3, Salman was supposed to start shooting for Ali Abbas Zafar's 'Bharat', set to release during the Eid of 2019.
The actor was soon to start shooting for Sajid Nadiadwala's 'Kick 2', slated to release around Christmas of 2019. This was to be followed by Arbaaz Khan's production 'Dabbangg 3'. Though a release date hasn't been announced, the film is expected to release during the Eid of 2020.
TV shows
As for TV, Salman Khan had come back to host Sony TV's most anticipated show 'Dus Ka Dum'. An initial promo of the show was launched by the channel a few months ago. The show was set to go on air in June. This was followed by Color's 'Bigg Boss' season 12, registrations for which have already begun.
The actor is also said to be one of the most preferred faces when it comes brand endorsements and endorses more than 10 brands.
Brand Salman
So will the judgement affect brand Salman Khan? Trade analysts believe that Salman will emerge stronger post the judgement. Said trade pundit Atul Mohan, "The decision will not hurt his brand because he is known for all social work he does.
His fans adore him for the social activities. In fact, his next project 'Race 3' will most likely do better business than anticipated because his fans will come out in full support of the actor."
Saurabh Uboweja, international brand expert and CEO of Brands of Desire, said, "While the overall brand equity of Salman may not get as deeply impacted due to his extraordinarily large fan following, if you calculate the brand valuation of the actor based on his likely earnings over the next 2-3 years, it would surely see a big decline as brands and producers may choose to stay away from him in the near future."
According to Mohan, if worse comes to worst and Salman has to be in jail for five years, the stakeholders of Salman's future film projects and TV shows will be in a fix. "Salman has almost completed 'Race 3' and I am sure some kind of provision will be made so that he gets time to complete the project. But 'Dus Ka Dum' and 'Bigg Boss' might be affected," he said. Uboweja said that there is a lot of money riding on Salman in terms of movie projects.
Huge loss
- According to trade analysts, Salman's upcoming films Race 3, Bharat, Kick 2 and Dabbangg stand to earn between Rs 200 to 250 crore.
- "That's a huge sum of money and if he isn't part of these films, the industry will lose that money," said a source.
- Trade pundit Atul Mohan said Salman's net earnings last year were upwards of Rs 200 crore. "One can expect a significantly steep fall in that as brands are likely to cancel existing obligations or stay away from new endorsements. Besides, his big banner movies and the popular TV show, Big Boss may consider alternative possibilities," he said.
