Shikari (2016 film)

Plot

Sultan (Shakib Khan) is a professional assassin who had run away from home in his childhood after being convicted of attempting to murder his father. Rahul Dev, an influential child trafficker hires Sultan to kill prominent Judge Rudro Chowdhury (Sabyasachi Chatterjee), since he is handling the inquiry and verdict on Rahul Dev's child trafficking case in Kolkata. Sultan arrives in Kolkata and attempts to murder Judge Chowdhury by sniping, but misfires due to large crowd and media around the Judge. The West Bengal police force chases after him, but ultimately fails to catch him. After Rahul Dev insults him for his inability, Sultan is angry with himself, and vows to kill Judge Chowdhury within ten days.

Sultan enters Judge Chowdhury's household disguising as a servant, and slowly begins to win over the members of the family.

Cast

Casting and development

The project was first announced in January 2016 with an official statement by Jaaz Multimedia. Khan will be seen portraying the role of an disguised assassin in the film. Khan underwent extensive training for the action sequences and has reportedly lost 15 kg weight for the new role. Khan also charged whopping 15 million fee for the film, thus becoming the highest paid actor in history of Bengali cinema. In March 2016, Srabanti Chatterjee was signed to play the female lead opposite Khan, along with Rahul Dev as the main antagonist in the film. The film was made official in a press conference held in Dhaka on 11 March 2016, where the cast members of the film introduced.

Filming

The shooting schedule of Shikari commenced on 14 March 2016. The first phase of the film was shot in 12-day schedule and entirely filmed in Kolkata. The second phase of the filming took place in London. The last phase of the film was filmed in Dhaka, and lasted 26-days. The entire film was shot on a 48-day schedule. During filming, the shooting was halted for 2-days in Kolkata due to strike from the production crew.

The music of the film was shot at various locations in London and Kolkata. A romantic track sequence was shot at Beachy Head in East Sussex, England while other sequences were shot at Piccadilly Circus.

Release

Shikari was released across 98 screens in Bangladesh on 7 July 2016. Despite release on three other films, Shikari opened on every multiplexes in Bangladesh. Screen count remained constant during the second week. Prior to the release of the film, Production company Jaaz Multimedia announced the film's release in India, North America and Europe. The film is scheduled to release across more than 130 screens in West Bengal, India, 3 in Canada and numerous theaters in United States and France.

Promotions

Promotion of Shikari began on 16 June 2016 with the release of "Harabo Toke Niye" on YouTube. The track featured Shakib Khan, Srabanti Chatterjee and the track was shot in London. The video received an overwhelming response of YouTube, and creating record of becoming the fastest Bengali language video track to reach 1 million views. The track received praises from audiences and critics. The official teaser of the film was revealed on 18 June 2016 and instantly became the top trend online for 24 hours. Khan's new look and highly packed action sequences were highly praised. The film officially began promotion with a press conference on 22 June 2016, where the films' cast and crews were present.

Domestic

The pre-release revenue of Shikari was approximately 15 million Taka. Shikari was released in 108 screens across Bangladesh on July 7, 2016. The film opened with 100% occupancy across all theaters. Despite having tough competition from three other releases, The film grossed with 2.66 million nett on opening day, thus becoming the third biggest opening of all time for a Bangladeshi film. The film got an overwhelming response from the audiences. The film was consistent throughout the entire week, breaking into the record of highest opening weekend for any Bangladeshi film, grossing 15.75 million at the box office. The film crossed 37.9 million in 14 days, becoming the highest grosser of 2016.

The film received huge media and public attention due to involvement of Shakib Khan in the project, who is widely considered to be the biggest film star of Bangladesh till date . The film also received huge marketing hype in India, initially reserving 115 theaters for screening of the film in West Bengal, leaving behind two major Bombay film releases, Mohenjo Daro and Rustom.

International

The film also released in North America, and Europe on 12 August 2016, creating a record of widest overseas release for a Bangladeshi film.

The film opened in 4 international markets during its opening overseas week and grossed ৳15 million, becoming the highest-grossing Bangladeshi film at overseas market. In opening week, the film also set the record of widest release for a Bangladeshi film.