It’s often said that television has a broader reach, but what happens when popular television shows are adapted to film? Do they receive the same love? Do they find an audience? And can they make a mark at the box office? The answers are far from simple, especially in today’s volatile film landscape. It is in this context that Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun on the Run, starring Aasif Sheikh, Shubhangi Atre, Rohitash Gaud, Ravi Kishan and others in key roles, hit the screens on February 6.
Unfortunately, the film adaptation of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! failed to cross the 1 crore mark during its first weekend. According to trade tracker Sacnilk, the film recorded a gross collection in India of Rs 98 lakh and a net collection of Rs 87 lakh on Sunday. Various reports estimate the success of the film. budget to 8-10 crores; Unfortunately, it has not recovered even one percent of its production cost. To compound his disappointing performance, Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun on the Run earned 58 percent less than Khichdi: The Movie, which released in 2010.
Then read: Why Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain! Outsmart’s big-budget comedies
Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun is directed by Shashank Bali and written by Raghuvir Shekhawat, Shashank Bali and Sanjay Kohli. It is the maiden production of Sanajy and Benaifer Kohli’s son Vihaan. Earlier, in an exclusive interview with SCREEN, Sanjay spoke about the film and said, “It’s a big challenge to bring a story from television to the big screen. I was proposing to make a film from 2021, because JD did a film called Khichdi. So I thought we could even do it. This show was a bigger cult classic; people love the character in North India. In August 2024, Zee Films contacted me and we started talking about it. We talked about making the movie on a very tight budget, since they had bought the previous TV movies at a very high price and made no money.”
He added, “So we decided to make the film on a very tight budget, and we made it on a single-digit budget. The challenge was how to make it not look like television, so we worked on a story where we took the entire feel of the show and decided to do a total exterior. We fought with the channel as they wanted us to shoot a bit in the actual house. But we didn’t want to give even a hint of it, so we shot the film in Dehradun.”
What made Khichdi, the film series, a success?
While adapting a popular TV show into a film may not seem like a viable idea today, it was JD Majethia’s Khichdi that successfully laid the foundation for such a transition. The key difference, however, lies in the method behind the madness Majethia went on with the franchise. In 2010, when Khichdi made his leap from television to the big screen, the producer faced several challenges. Talking about why he turned Khichdi’s show into a film, the producer told SCREEN, “Films have a specific grammar, with a proper beginning, a proper middle and a proper climax. While working on TV shows, the case of Khichdi was completely different. The first season only had 96-97 episodes, and then we felt we needed to take a break, so we did. The announcers were surprised, but we thought the brand would be over if it was overexposed. People would start disrespecting the show if it was stretched. When they launched Star One, we had Sarabhai, so the demand remained.
Majethia elaborated on his strategy of managing audience demand by deliberately limiting the franchise’s production. “After soap operas became popular, weekly slots were not available, so we couldn’t convert the show into a daily. Generating that kind of humor is very challenging, so we thought of turning it into a film. Since I took the network rights, we thought of making the film. Then we did one more web series, then another film, and in 2027, we will make one more film. Because we gave slots to Khichdi, and we did it when there was a demand, it worked.” shared.
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It’s not that JD Majethia never faced challenges, he also fought against opinions like ‘Why would one pay to see faces they can see for free on TV?’ Talking about this, Majethia said, “That perception was always there, but some people wanted Khichdi on the big screen. Since audiences were no longer getting free Khichdi, they went to theatres. Unfortunately, piracy happens; the last Khichdi film suffered due to piracy. We released the film on the wrong day; India had its cricket finals, so in Gujarat and everywhere, people saw a lot of things through piracy.”
The producer even faced budgetary challenges when it came to Khichdi. “It’s like taking a risk, like any other film. Budgets are always very challenging; you have to make a good product and you need to invest that kind of money in it. You can’t shoot it like a TV show. When we did Khichdi as a show, we used to have outdoor shows in Manali, Dubai, etc. We still had budget challenges, and with films, it’s definitely a big challenge. You have to spend decent money; a producer has to take that risk,” JD said.
Without revealing exact figures, JD Majethia spoke about the budget with which both the films of the Khichdi franchise were made. He said, “Since this is a network and a deal, I can’t reveal what money the films were made for, it may not look good. But the second film was made on a large scale. We had two songs, choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. We created a set. We shot one song in Switzerland, so we actually scaled it close to the budget of a medium-sized Hindi film in terms of production. With the cast, since we didn’t have a lead on which we had to spend a few crores, gave us It gave us a cushion to spend on the production. The performance of the first film was excellent; we had a problem with the release date, but the response was excellent.
According to Sacnilk, the 2010 film Khichdi: The Movie was made on a budget of Rs 4 crore. The film emerged as an average hit, collecting Rs 7.13 crore gross and Rs 5.27 crore nett in India. The second installation, released in 2023, unfortunately suffered due to piracy. Despite this setback, it earned Rs 5.25 crore gross and Rs 4.45 crore net in India.
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Will it be Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! The fun on the run beats Chala Mussadi… The Office Office collection?
By Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun on the run, all hope is not lost yet. Going by the opening weekend figures, the Ravi Kishan and Shubhangi Atre starrer could still surpass the lifetime collection of the 2011 film Chala Mussadi… Office Office. Yes, another popular sitcom adapted to the big screen was Pankaj Kapur’s Office Office. According to Box Office India, Chala Mussadi… Office Office was made on a budget of Rs 6.5 crore, but managed to earn only Rs 1.39 crore gross and Rs 1.27 crore nett in India.
Sharing his opinion on TV shows being made into films, Office Office actor Deven Bhojani said, “In a film, the audience is limited and cannot be changed once it is made. Therefore, it has to be done with full concentration; you have to put everything in. These films find an audience; some of the shows that were made into films were quite successful, but they were not big hits. However, the budgets are restricted as the audience is not very big; a large section of them watch these characters and tracks for free on television, they don’t want to pay, that’s why they don’t go to movie theaters in large numbers. That’s why budgets remain restricted, because if a producer spends a lot of money on it, the chances of recovery are slim.”
What’s up with Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun On The Run remains to be seen. And maybe that’s why Mukesh Khanna hasn’t turned Shaktimaan into a film yet, because he knows that such talk doesn’t translate into big numbers in showbiz.