A Bollywood film, The Lady Killer, starring Arjun Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar, has become what is considered to be one of the biggest box office disasters in Indian cinema history. The crime thriller, directed by Ajay Bahl and produced by Bhushan Kumar under the T-Series banner, was released in 2023 after production delays and budget overruns, ultimately costing ₹45 crore.
Despite the investment, the film failed to attract audiences, reportedly earning a meager ₹60,000 during its theatrical run. Some reports state slightly higher earnings of ₹38,000 on the opening day, with total lifetime earnings remaining under ₹1 lakh. This equates to a 99.99% loss for the filmmakers, marking it as a significant financial failure.
Several factors contributed to the film's poor performance. The Lady Killer was released in an incomplete state, with reports suggesting that the climax was not fully shot. Furthermore, the film's stars, Arjun Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar, did not actively promote it, and there was a lack of a comprehensive promotional campaign beyond a trailer release. This has been attributed to the filmmakers fulfilling a contractual obligation with a theatrical release, regardless of the film's readiness.
The negative reception and minimal box office revenue led to streaming platforms like Netflix reportedly backing out of a potential digital release. Eventually, The Lady Killer was released for free on YouTube in September 2024 and has garnered over 2.4 million views; however, the comments are largely negative.
The failure of The Lady Killer highlights the risks associated with filmmaking, where even big-budget productions with established stars can face substantial losses. In today's film industry, box office collections were once the primary measure of success, but revenue streams such as music, digital, and satellite rights are now major factors in determining a film's profitability. Despite these alternative revenue streams, The Lady Killer failed to recoup its investment, solidifying its place as a major box office bomb.
While The Lady Killer struggled to find an audience, other films have seen recent success. For example, Bison Kaalamaadan, directed by Mari Selvaraj and featuring Dhruv Vikram, has grossed approximately ₹44.77 crore in India over 19 days. In contrast, the Telugu film Telusu Kada, made on a similar budget of ₹45 crore, has only earned ₹9.25 crore after two weeks, leading to a "flop" verdict.
