Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, starring Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, has taken a flying start at the box office this Friday. The opening is particularly good in Delhi/NCR region, but not very promising in other tier 1 cities such as Jaipur and Indore considering it’s a Valentine’s Day.
This is the best opening by any film in 2020 as yet and it’s sure to notch up more than Rs 12 crore on Day 1. The initial reports, however, are on the negative side and it remains to be seen how it trends over the next few days.
Imtiaz had made a film with a similar name, starring Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone, in 2009 and incidentally it was also his last clean hit at the turnstiles.
High cost fells Malang
Malang opened to fair response at the ticket windows last Friday and grew well on Sunday. But the growth on Sunday was missing and hence the weekend (Rs 24 crore net) was on the lower side. The film was steady during the weekdays and didn’t crash. The first week collections are Rs 38 crore net which is a decent number for a film of this star-cast but the problem is high cost.
Malang |
The budget of Malang is approximately Rs 65 crore (including print and publicity). The producers recovered Rs 35 crore from digital, satellite and music rights. The remaining Rs 30 crore is to be recovered from theatrical business. And to recover that figure, it has to do lifetime business of Rs.65 crore in India which seems like a tall order now. It needs to hold very strongly in the second week to stand a chance to break even.
Friday – Rs 6,50,00,000
Saturday – Rs 8,25,00,000
Sunday – Rs 9,25,00,000
Monday – Rs 4,00,00,000
Tuesday – Rs 3,75,00,000
Wednesday – Rs 3,25,00,000
Thursday – Rs 3,00,00,000
Week One – Rs 38,00,00,000
Shikara sinks without a trace
Shikara, which copped a poor opening, failed to show adequate growth over the weekend and, worse still, crashed in the weekdays. The film will entail losses for everyone associated with it. It could only muster Rs 6 crore net in its first week.
Jawaani Jaaneman —Devoid of exuberance
Saif Ali Khan’s Jawaani Jaaneman floundered badly in the second week. The first week was low but there was a chance for it to get to a respectable collection if it sustained stoutly in the second week but, alas, that wasn’t the case. After two weeks, it stands at Rs 24 crore net. This is Saif’s 11th flop in a row if we put Tanhaji aside which is largely an Ajay Devgn film. In fact, his last five solo films were outright disasters and failed to do even Rs 30 crore net lifetime business.
Jawaani Jaaneman |
Week One – Rs 18,75,00,000
Week Two – Rs 5,25,00,000
Total – Rs 24,00,00,000
Tanhaji — The ‘lopsided’ warrior
Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior is a bonafide blockbuster, but it is also the most ‘lopsided’ blockbuster of the past 25 years. While it is doing unprecedented, historic business in Mumbai circuit and Maharashtra, the collections in West Bengal are dismal. Its box office performance in Rajasthan and Central India is comme ci comme ca but far from excellent. Basically, this film has become a blockbuster solely on the back of its phenomenal run in Maharashtra.
Tanhaji |
To give a more panoramic view, the percentage of business from Mumbai circuit for a Bollywood film is usually 35. For some films, with local flavour, it goes up to 40% to 42%. But in the case of Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior, almost 55% business has come from Mumbai circuit which is simply insane and has no parallel or precedence in at least the past 25 years.
What makes it even more astonishing is the fact that this is not happening to a low-budget film or a moderate success, which can be little lop-sided, but to a massive grosser.
There have been cases when one film has worked in one particular circuit and failed in other circuits, like Salman Khan’s Veer in Rajasthan and Akshay Kumar’s Jaanwar in Bihar, but they were, overall, not big hits. In fact, they were not historic grossers even in those states.
In case of Tanhaji, the business in Mumbai circuit and Maharashtra state is among the biggest (inflation adjusted) of all-time. And this circuit alone has made it a monumental grosser. Its business from Mumbai circuit alone is more than the all-India business of superstar Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3.
It is pertinent to point out here that Mumbai circuit includes Mumbai city, Thane, Pune, Gujarat/ Saurashtra and few other cities of Maharashtra. Many cities of Maharashtra fall under CP Berar and Andhra/ Nizam circuits.
Mumbai circuit is the biggest among these three. Unsurprisingly, because of Tanhaji’s golden run in Maharashtra, these three circuits have put up the best numbers for this film.
The writer is a news ninja who feasts on cricket, cinema and politics – not necessarily in that order
