Singh Is not Kinng in Bihar

This has never happened before. A film that does extraordinary business all over the country and overseas has bombed in one specific area. Anees Bazmee's Singh Is Kinng is a flop in Bihar, an area where Akshay Kumar's films from Jaanwar to Hey Babyy have acquired a blockbuster status without batting an eyelid. The film also features Katrina Kaif in the female lead role.

The reason for this incongruous occurrence? According to on one of Bihar's primary exhibitors, Suman Sinha, "The Punjabi dialogues songs and dances went against the film. The Bihar distributor paid a whopping amount to buy Singh Is Kinng and is now going to lose a hefty amount."

Producer Vipul Shah is aware of his blockbuster's tainted spot in Bihar. "I've heard that the 'Punjabiyat' and Sikh theme have gone against the film's success in Bihar. But I don't understand why. We were aware that some areas would reject the film's USP, namely the Sikh ambience. Surprisingly, the film has done extremely well even in Bengal where we thought the audience would've trouble connecting with the theme. There's really no explanation for what has happened to Singh Is Kinng in Bihar."

Interestingly, there have been instances of films that have bombed in the rest of the country but doing well in Bihar like Hamesh Malhotra's Dulhe Raja and Riteish Deshmukh's debut film Tujkho Meri Kasam. But never has a world-wide hit been rejected in Bihar. Vipul Shah's and Anees Bazmee's films have always done well in Bihar. And Jab We Met, which also had large dollops of Punjabiyat was a hit in the State.

Says Suman Sinha, "But Jab We Met didn't thrust the Bhangra culture up audiences' throats. Like it or not, the rest of the country is not as fond of Punjabi culture as Bollywood."