Inside the Box Office: Decoding Shaitaan’s Success

Within the first few minutes of Shaitaan (2024), a black magic practitioner effectively barges into a family’s home and refuses to leave. Much like R. Madhavan’s diabolical character in Shaitaan, this supernatural thriller has taken over the box office and, with a collection of approximately Rs. 88 crores worldwide within six days of release, it looks like it’s here to stay. Domestically, Shaitaan has made a little more than Rs. 68 crores and is on track to hit the 100-crore mark this week, which will make it the second release of 2024 to reach that milestone after Fighter (2024). 

Unlike in the case of Gadar 2 (2023), there is little discrepancy in Shaitaan’s box office numbers in terms of single screens vs. multiplexes, or metro cities vs. smaller towns. “This is a film that’s actually doing equally well in both, because horror is a genre that cuts across demographics,” said film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi. Vishek Chauhan, who is an exhibitor based in Bihar, added, “Fear is fear, na? Ameer aadmi ko darr lagta hai aur gareeb aadmi ko bhi darr lagta hai (A rich man feels fear, and so does a poor man).”

Rathi said, “If you look at the promotions of Shaitaan, they just put out a teaser, then they released the trailer and songs without any additional marketing activities.” It’s a relatively quiet approach to marketing a film, which relied upon horror as a genre, seeing Chocolate Boy Madhavan as a villain, and Ajay Devgn in a role reminiscent of what he did in the Drishyam films to lure audiences into theatres. Although Indian horror films may not enjoy much critical acclaim, they are popular among audiences. “Psychological thrillers and horror are two genres that have been very under-tapped in this country,” said Rathi. 

A Middling Legacy of Horror 

There have been 50-odd horror films made in the last decade. Among them, the famous titles usually combine genres, like the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise, which are horror-comedy-thrillers, or the films set in the Stree-Bhediya universe. For pure horror, the choices are far and few in between. Vishekh Chauhan said, “I think the horror genre, particularly in our country, is a very underutilised genre as far as the producers are concerned. If you look at Hollywood, they have a very good pipeline of horror films which they produce annually. You would at least have 10-15 horror films doing very well at the box office.” 

Incidentally, Hollywood horror releases — many of which are dubbed into Indian languages — tend to do well in India. Recently, The Nun II (2023) made around Rs. 50 crores (despite being released around the same time as Jawan, 2023), putting these films’ earnings in the same league as Article 370 (2024) and Hanu-Man (2024), which, according to box office tracker Sacnilk, earned Rs. 67.37 crores and Rs. 52.25 crores respectively. 

Fear Kills at the Box Office

However, Hindi cinema has seen few horror films succeeding with audiences in the past decade. Chauhan attributed this poor performance to subpar storytelling. “The reason why they were not performing well was because they were not being done properly … You can’t blame the genre for bad filmmaking,” he said. For Rathi and Chauhan, Shaitaan is an example of horror done right. “At its core, it’s solid, phenomenal, engaging storytelling,” said Rathi. The film’s triumph at the box office confirms an interest in horror and psychological thrillers, with major metropolitan cinemas adding late-night screenings to cater to the high demand.

Chauhan said, “Horror films have had a very good history in terms of box office success. If you look at Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt and their company — they made some really nice horror films which did really well. The last good box office winner of the horror genre was Raaz 3 (2012). I think it did around Rs. 75-80 crores, which is phenomenal business.” To put it to scale, Chauhan added, “Raaz 3 did Rs. 75 crores way back in 2012 so you can imagine that in today’s values, that is nearly Rs 150-200 crores of business.” 

The cultural impact of B-grade horror films was brought into the spotlight by filmmaker Vasan Bala in his delightful documentary series Cinema Marte Dam Tak. The legends in this particular landscape have to be the Ramsay Brothers — think Purana Mandir (1984) and Veerana (1988) — who galvanised the genre, but are also responsible for audiences conflating the horror genre with B-grade films. 

Despite remaining a crowd puller across single screens and multiplexes, Bollywood A-listers have mostly stayed away from the horror genre. Every so often, a big star will dip a toe in — Anushka Sharma made Pari in 2018, and Vicky Kaushal starred in Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship in 2020 coming straight off the success of Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019) — but so far, very few have managed to make a success of it. Devgn stands out for being one of the few Bollywood stars to have returned to horror repeatedly, with titles like Bhoot (2003) and Kaal (2005) in his filmography. 

So What Makes Shaitaan Tick?

How does a film with little buzz or build-up in the weeks preceding it do the kind of numbers that Shaitaan did in its opening weekend? For leading film distributors, the answer lies in the trailer. “The runaway success of Shaitaan goes entirely to show what the power of the trailer is even today,” said Rathi. “The only thing that really makes an impact and makes people decide what they want to watch, and where they want to watch it — in cinemas or at home on streaming — is the trailer.” And Shaitaan’s trailer (which has over 10 million views on YouTube) is cut in a way that puts forth the film’s central premise — an evil black magic practitioner infiltrates the house of a happy family and takes control over their daughter; “Hell comes home” — and builds a sense of thrill and intrigue without necessarily spoiling the film for prospective viewers. “We had good inquiries after the trailer hit and people started asking about the film,” said Chauhan. “That’s when we realised that the film has managed to capture people’s imagination.” 

For its promotion cycle, Shaitaan went back to the basics. “As an industry, we go on to do all sorts of silly marketing activities … gimmicky things which clearly have no impact,” said Rathi. In contrast, Shaitaan kept it simple, without resorting to elaborate marketing tactics to generate social media hype. “If the trailer connects, you are assured of a good opening across the country,” said Chauhan. And so it was the case with Shaitaan, which was no doubt further bolstered by its release on a long weekend.

Additionally, Shaitaan’s early box office success can largely be attributed to its stellar cast. “For so many years, horror was relegated to the sidelines. No major star would touch a horror film,” said Chauhan. Rathi agreed: “The few films that we’ve had in these genres have rarely had A-lister actors be a part of them, or avant garde filmmakers and production houses back then. It’s always seemed like a bit of a parallel, under the shadow kind of entity that’s been functioning along with mainstream cinema.” 

Shaitaan’s star cast includes big names from different Indian film industries. Devgn, Madhavan and Jyotika — one is a bonafide Bollywood star, noted for his consistency and delivering a hit at regular intervals; the other two are solid performers with significant pull among audiences in the South — showcase an unusual range, especially with Janki Bodiwala, who starred in the Gujarati original Vash (2023), also in the cast. 

For the Love of Scary Cinema

Another aspect that works for Shaitaan is its soundtrack, composed by Amit Trivedi and with songs by Siddharth Basrur and Raftaar. As Shaitaan’s box office success shows, the black box of the cinema hall makes the perfect ambience for horror films and thrillers. The fear hums through a crowd, growing with every intake of breath and gasp of shock, while the darkness makes each audience member feel isolated with just the movie before them. Trapped in the auditorium — if you’ve paid for a ticket, the chances of leaving the theatre before the film ends are sub-zero — you are entirely at the mercy of what unfolds on screen.  

Rathi said, “I truly believe horror is one of the most theatrical genres we have. It has the maximum impact when it’s done in the collective viewing experience style, with the right kind of sound systems, with the subwoofers, woofers, HF-LF units, even Dolby Atmos playing its role.” Satadeep Saha, a film exhibitor from West Bengal, also emphasised the cinematic quality of these films. “Horror films need to be watched in the theatre,” said Saha. “Especially in Bengal, horror performs very well because people like to watch those films in theatres rather than at home.” 

“Shaitaan wouldn't have managed to get those kinds of numbers up on the board had it not been for these stars,” said Chauhan. “Bollywood and India is a star-driven industry, you need stars to push this genre.” The performances in Shaitaan are compelling enough to get the audience invested in this family’s well-being, even when the narrative begins to slacken. When Devgn’s Kabir finally emerges victorious in his climactic battle with Madhavan’s Vanraj, many theatres resounded with applause.