Box office this week: one hit, two misses

Even before its release, the Dhanush-Sonam Kapoor starrer Raanjhanaa looked promising. But it’s interesting to note that Aanand L Rai’s romantic drama, which released last Friday, is doing well “way beyond expectations.”

Even before its release, the Dhanush-Sonam Kapoor starrer Raanjhanaa looked promising. But it’s interesting to note that Aanand L Rai’s romantic drama, which released last Friday, is doing well “way beyond expectations.”

Sonam-and-Dhanush-pose-for-the-lenses

The film’s collections in the first four days stand at an impressive total of Rs 23.93 crore nett. In fact, trade experts feels that the first week collections might well be around Rs 35 crore.

“Monday footfalls were either at par or better than Friday footfalls for the film. Reduced ticket rates (at several multiplexes) on weekdays might mean slightly lower figures. But otherwise, kudos to everyone involved in the film, including AR Rahman for the fantastic music,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

According to the trade world, since the total budget of the film is around Rs 32 crore, its (around) Rs 24 crore four-day collections put it on a strong footing. “The box-office performance has been way beyond expectations. Despite the fact that Dhanush defied all conventional parameters of a south Indian hero with masala action and over-the-top drama, it has performed superbly,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi.

At the same time, the other two releases — Shortcut Romeo and Enemmy — have been disasters, according to trade. The Neil Nitin Mukesh film apparently opened to less than 10 per cent occupancy across the country.

“They are complete non-starters. Their box office returns must have been in lakhs and not even hit the crore mark,” says trade expert Komal Nahta. Adarsh adds that since the other two films “have been such big disasters,” he “I didn’t even bother tracking their box-office figures.”