This Christmas, romance arrived on the big screen in a quintessential Dharma-esque manner, but audiences have refused to reciprocate love for the story. The Kartik Aaryan-Ananya Panday-starrer Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri collected only Rs 8.46 crore on opening day, with a four-day total of around Rs 28 crore.

Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan isn’t surprised. He told mid-day, “I don’t think the film had any chance from day one. It looks like a stale product, which people have seen umpteen times throughout the previous decade. It is basically the genre that came into being with Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone-starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013). And then Ranbir milked it to great effect with many films. He even managed to get some kind of success with Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar (2023). The audience has seen enough of this genre. Theatrical entertainment works on the basic principle of the ability of the content to create the fear of missing out (FOMO). If your content is not able to do that, the audience will not come to the theatres. If you feel that you will make anything random, then don’t expect numbers.”

Chauhan added lessons for Karan Johar, the co-producer of the film: “Two of his productions this year — Tu Meri Main Tera and Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari — were stale products. We need intense romantic love stories on the big screen, that’s what people are watching right now. People want dark, intense lovers. No matter how good a film you make, the public will not come to see a romantic comedy. People are saturated with it.”

Timing also worked against the release. Rajasthan-based exhibitor Raj Bansal told mid-day, “The film has terribly low collections so far. The opening day (Dec 25) was low. Then a Friday (Dec 26) drop was natural. But Saturday’s (Dec 27) collections showed that it would trend poorly. The movie got sandwiched between Dhurandhar and Avatar: Fire And Ash, which is doing well at my theatre. Its lifetime looks like around Rs. 40 crore. What the film lacked was hit music. Had even one or two songs worked, the opening would not have been so bad. The movie’s star cast is also not a big draw.”