Mission Mangal has emerged the biggest concept film beating the likes of Chak De India and Taare Zameen Par. In terms of box office numbers its way ahead of the others but that is pretty easy as the ticket rates are much higher today from ten years back but it will be top in terms of footfalls also making it the most watched concept film in recent history.

 

 

In the industry and trade these films are generally called content films but that is not the case as the successful commercial films are also content films.  It is the content which differentiates a Tiger Zinda Hai and a Race 3 as if it was about being commercial / potbiler then all would work but its the content ones which work and the ones without content dont. The concept film is generally based on a theme and is not relying on music, action and comedy for its content. As these elements are missing then the films tend to look slightly off beat. 

 

 

There were three of these type of films which stood up above the rest before and they were Chak De India, Taare Zameen Par and Barfi! but now Mission Mangal has come and topped all these three films and found a larger audience which will make its adjusted figures higher than all three.

 

 

There are similarities between Chak De India as that had a big star like Shahrukh Khan leading a team of females and this also has a big star Akshay Kumar leading a team of females. Both films can be said to be female centric as the crux of the story revolves around them but the box office only really cares for the big stars and if you take Akshay Kumar out of Mission Mangal then you probably would be less than a quarter of the business it has done now. Even these concept films need that big star as well as a connecting concept to take them to another level. The concept alone can do well but you are not going to get 1 crore plus people into the theatres. The other coincidence with Chak De India is the date, that film was also released in the same week 12 years ago but the importance of big holidays was far less at that time.

 

 

The big plus for these films today if they have a big star is the potential revenue as the non theatrical revenue can be big even for a film without commercial elements. This film shot in 30 days and a production budget of 32 crore and will see Akshay Kumar get around 110 crore as actor / producer which was unthinkable a few years back that such a film can see such huge returns.

 

 

The other three big films of this zone Chak De India, Taare Zameen Par and Barfi! could not hit it out on television and that would be the task for Mission Mangal now. Barfi! did not do well at all while the other two did okay but you cant say they were major HITS on television. The top concept films in recent times with the footfalls are as follows.

 

1. Mission Mangal - 1,45,00,000 (expected)

 

 

2. Chak De India - 1,39,83,000

 

 

3. Taare Zameen Par - 1,24,85,000

 

 

4. Barfi! - 1,20,47,000

 

 

5. Fan - 84,71,000

 

 

6. Special 26 - 77,53,000

 

 

7. Piku - 75,81,000

 

 

8. Kahaani - 69,24,000

 

 

9. Pad Man - 69,05,000

 

 

10. Neerja - 66,23,000