Delays and controversies unlikely to impact Kangana Ranaut's 'Emergency' if it is good: Trade experts

Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut-starrer “Emergency”, which is set to finally arrive in theatres on Friday following a series of delays and controversies, will do well if the star-politician's storytelling skills match her acting abilities despite it being a political film, say experts.

The film, backed by Zee Studios and Ranaut’s banner Manikarnika Films, faced a new controversy on Thursday when SGPC, an apex gurdwara body, wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, seeking a ban on the release of Emergency saying it "tarnishes" the image of Sikhs and "misrepresents" history.

Distributor Akshay Rathi, who owns theatres in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, however, is hopeful that the film will have a decent opening of Rs five to six crore at the box office despite delays.

"Delays beyond a point don’t cause much of a concern if the content of the film is strong. Pushpa 2 was supposed to come out almost two years ago but it has become the highest-grossing Indian film. We’ve films like The Kashmir Files which were political but people turned up in cinemas...

"So, genres are not factors. The effort of team Emergency is visible. She is the best actor we’ve out there and we’ve to see if her ability as a storyteller matches her abilities as an actor," Rathi told PTI in an interview.

Ranaut, the BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, documents the 21 months of Emergency imposed in 1975 by the then prime minister in the movie that she also stars in and has produced.

The film was slated to release in June last year but was postponed due to Lok Sabha elections. It again missed out on its September 6 release date as it failed to obtain a censor certificate as Sikh organisations claimed the film misrepresented facts.

The January 17 date of "Emergency" was decided for the release after the film received a censor certificate with multiple cuts.

Political analyst Sanjay Ranade said Hindi cinema can’t have an all-rounded look at politics and the film looks unidimensional. "When you see the trailer of ‘Emergency’ you see that it's not layered, it is completely one-sided. The first half of the trailer talks about events that are vaguely put there. It’s not a political story. There are multiple dimensions to this character or this event but I don’t think this is there in the film, it will be unidimensional," Ranade said. According to the analyst, Hindi cinema can’t have an all-rounded look at politics.

"Whatever they’ve done in politics is invariably driven by the narrow ideology of the producer or director. They’ve didactic approach. If you compare this with the European approach, you see they try to build into the complexities. But we either make a god or demon out of that person, we don’t have a layered approach to storytelling," Ranade said. Trade analyst Komal Nahta said one can’t predict the outcome of the film at the box office though the trailer looks good.

"The box office collection depends on the merit of the film. These things (delays and controversies) do affect a little bit but people are aware that instead of September it is releasing in January. So, the time lag will have some input. But if the content is good, nothing can come in the way of a film’s box office.

"She is a fine actress so one is excited to see her perform. Kangana is a wonderful performer but one can’t say anything about the film."

The film also stars Shreyas Talpade as young Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Milind Soman as Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Mahima Choudhary as Pupul Jayakar and the late Satish Kaushik in the role of Jagjivan Ram.