Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan set for auspicious run
This week two medium-budget films, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and Bhoot, have hit the screens. Ayushmann Khurrana is in the midst of a pretty good run at the turnstiles as his last five films have proven to be profitable ventures. His
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan has taken a good start at the box office and might turn out to be his best opener depending on the evening shows. The collections are aided by the partial holiday of Maha Shivratri. On fair value, if we exclude the holiday factor, its opening is slightly lower than Ayushmann’s last releases Bala and Dream Girl. It is likely to rack up more than Rs 10 crore on Day 1.
Bhoot flounders
Vicky Kaushal’s Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship hasn’t opened to satisfactory response. Its opening is decent in places like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh but dull everywhere else. Horror films are mostly front-loaded and don’t sustain stoutly. Also, for horror movies to work across India, chartbusting music is a must. On both these counts, opening and music, Bhoot... is on a sticky wicket. On Day 1, it is expected to do a business of around
Rs 5-6 crore.
No love lost for Love Aaj Kal
Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, which had taken a flying start last Friday due to Valentine’s Day, collapsed unceremoniously in its first week. The writing was on the wall on Saturday when the film fell by 40%. On Sunday, instead of showing growth, the movie slid further. And since Monday, it has witnessed a mind-boggling crash. In fact, no urban love story has been rejected so resoundingly by the audience since Shaandaar in 2015. Had it not been for the good start on Day 1, its lifetime business would have been lower than even Bombay Velvet, the biggest disaster of the last decade.
Love Aaj Kal managed to muster just Rs 32 crore net in its first week after the first day collections of Rs 12 crore. The reports are so overwhelmingly abysmal that it will hardly collect anything from here on and is likely to end its run at around Rs 35 crore net.
The producers have made decent profit by selling the film but the all-India distributors, Pen-Marudhar, will suffer massive losses. Pen-Marudhar is a joint venture between Pen Studios and Marudhar Films. They bought Love Aaj Kal for Rs 45 crore and the film needs to do approximately Rs 100 crore net in India for them to break even. But this is simply impossible now. The distributor share of the film will only be around Rs 18 crore that means a loss of at least Rs 25-27 crore for the distributors. Love Aaj Kal is the third disaster on the trot for Imtiaz after Tamasha and Jab Harry Met Sejal. Both these films had also burnt deep holes in the pockets of
their distributors. Total (Week One) — Rs 32,10,00,000
Malang steady but not strong
Malang showed admirable resistance in its second week and didn’t nosedive as many had expected. It chalked up Rs 13.25 net crore in its second week and its total collections stand at Rs 51 crore net. For a film featuring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, it’s a very good result but the high cost is the fly in the ointment.
The film needs to do business of approximately Rs 60 crore net in India to break even which is looking improbable now, especially because two new films are releasing this week and Malang won’t get many screens. The life-time business of the film would be between Rs 55-58 crore net. That means either a slender loss or break even, at best, for the producers. Week One – Rs 38,00,00,000 Week two – Rs 13,25,00,000 Total – Rs 51,25,00,000
Tanhaji continues to slay
Tanhaji — The Unsung Warrior continued its fabulous run in the sixth week and registered the collections of Rs 5 crore net. The sixth week numbers of this film are higher than the blockbusters such as PK, Dangal, 3 Idiots and Padmaavat.
The large chunk of its business is coming from Mumbai circuit where it is among the biggest blockbusters of all-time. In this circuit alone, its lifetime business will be in the range of Rs.145 crore net. The all-India net total of Tanhaji after six weeks is Rs 265 crore. Week One — Rs 1,15,28,00,000 Week Two — Rs 77,87,00,000 Week Three — Rs 38,48,00,000 Week Four — Rs 19,31,00,000 Week Five — Rs 8,90,00,000 Week Six — Rs 5,16,00,000 Total — Rs 2,65,00,00,000 The writer is a news ninja who feasts on cricket, cinema and politics — not necessarily in that order