Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! film fails to cross Rs 1 crore mark: Why TV-to-movie adaptations are risky for producers

Also Read: Why Bhabhiji Ghar Par Hain! outsmarts 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 TV onto the big screen. I was proposing a film to be made since 2021, because there has been a film that JD made 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 discussed making the film on a very tight budget since they had bought the earlier TV films at a very high price, and they didn’t make 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 look not like TV, so we worked on a story where we take the whole feel of the show and decided to do a total outdoor. We fought with the channel, since they wanted us to shoot a little bit in the current 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 hit?

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 groundwork for such a transition. The key difference, however, lay in the method behind the madness that Majethia followed with the franchise. Back in 2010, when Khichdi made its leap from television to the big screen, the producer faced several challenges of his own. Talking about why he converted Khichdi show into a film, the producer told SCREEN, “Films have a specific grammar, with a right beginning, a proper mid-point, and a befitting climax. While working on TV shows, Khichdi’s case was completely different. The first season just ran for 96-97 episodes, and then we felt we needed to take a break, so we did that. Broadcasters were shocked, but we thought that the brand would be over if it was overexposed. People would start disrespecting the show if it stretched. When they were launching Star One, we had Sarabhai. They asked if we could make Khicdi a premium upmarket show? We cracked a plot for Instant Khichdi. But we ended Instant Khichdi in 50 episodes. The show was always in great demand when we took a break. So that demand sustained.”

Majethia further elaborated on his strategy of managing audience demand by deliberately limiting the franchise’s output. “After daily soaps took over big time, weekly slots weren’t available, so we couldn’t make the show into a daily. Generating that kind of humor is very challenging, so we thought to make it into a film. Since I took the rights from the network, we thought to make the film. Then we made one more web series, then another film, and in 2027, we are making one more film. Because we gave gaps to Khichdi, and did it when there was a demand, it worked,” he shared.

Not like JD Majethia never faced challenges, he too battled the opinions like ‘Why would one pay to watch the 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 the audience didn’t get Khichdi for free anymore, they went to theatres. Unfortunately, piracy does happen; the last Khichdi film suffered because of piracy. We released the film on the wrong day; India had its cricket finals, so in Gujarat and everywhere else, people saw a lot of things through piracy.”

The producer even faced challenges with budgets when it came to Khichdi. “It is like taking a risk, like any other film. Budgets are always very challenging; you have to make a good product, and you need to put that kind of money into it. You cannot shoot it like a TV show. When we made Khichdi as a show, we used to have outdoor schedules in Manali, Dubai, etc. We still had budget challenges, and with films, it is definitely very challenging. You have to spend decent money; a producer has to take that chance,” JD said.

Without disclosing exact figures, JD Majethia spoke about the budget on which both films in the Khichdi franchise were made. He said, “Since a network and deal is involved, I cannot reveal what money the films were made for, it might not look good. But the second film was made on a huge scale. We had two songs, choreographed by Ganesh Acharya. We created a set. We shot one song in Switzerland, so we really scaled it close to a mid-size Hindi film budget in terms of production. With the cast, since we didn’t have a lead whom we would have to spend a few crores on, it gave us a cushion to spend on the production. The return on the first film was great; it did well. We had faced a release date problem, but the response was great. Even today, Khichdi is consumed very heavily on OTT.”

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 net in India. The second instalment, released in 2023, unfortunately suffered due to piracy. Despite this setback, it went on to earn Rs 5.25 crore gross and Rs 4.45 crore net in India.

Will Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun on the run surpass Chala Mussadi… Office Office’s collection?

For Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun on the Run, all hope is not yet lost. Going by its opening weekend figures, the Ravi Kishan and Shubhangi Atre-starrer could still go on to surpass the lifetime collection of the 2011 film Chala Mussadi… Office Office. Yes, another popular sitcom adapted for 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 net in India.

Sharing his thoughts on TV shows being made into films, Office Office actor Deven Bhojani said, “In a film, the audience is limited, and you cannot change it once it’s made. So it has to be made with full focus; you have to put in everything. These films do find an audience; some of the shows that were made into films were fairly successful, but they were not super-duper hits. However, budgets are restricted since the audience is not very big; a large part of them see these characters and tracks for free on TV, they don’t want to pay, so they don’t go in large numbers to cinema halls. That’s why budgets are kept restricted, because if a producer spends lots of money on it, then the chances of recovery are bleak.”

What happens with Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain! Fun On The Run remains to be seen. And maybe this is why Mukesh Khanna hasn’t converted Shaktimaan into a film yet, because he knows such conversaion don’t translate into great numbers in showbiz.