Bajirao Mastani has shown phenomenal growth in business on Sunday, what with collections of the film set to come in the 18 crore range. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed film picked up by around 20% on Saturday and then again by 20-25% on Sunday, giving the film a very good weekend of around 47 crore in India.
The historical is carrying excellent word-of-mouth and looking at the weekend trends, there are chances that the film could collect 10 crore plus on Monday. Usually, when there is 20% or more growth on Day 2 and Day 3, it’s also a sign that the film has been liked by the audience and will hold during weekdays.
The other release, Shah Rukh Khan’s Dilwale wasn’t so lucky. As far as protests and cancellation of shows were concerned, it was a peaceful day. But there were a few stray incidents, like in Mangalore (Karnataka) where some shows of the film were cancelled on Sunday and advance booking has been put on hold for the weekdays due to protests.
The average growth for Dilwale at most centres that we tracked was around the 15% mark, some were a little lower, others were higher. The impact of shows getting cancelled or resuming after protests is currently not very clear. As per estimates, the film should collect around 23 crore on Sunday, taking the weekend total to around the 64 crore mark.
For the industry, it has been a big day at the box office. The combined collections of both Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale is set to be around the 42 crore mark.
Monday and the remaining weekdays will be important for both films, as the better performing film will get more shows at multiplexes in Week 2. There is the much-hyped Hollywood film ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ which releases in theatres on Christmas day, it will occupy a few screens too. The fact that big ticket Hollywood films are performing well in India (especially at Metro cities), has encouraged exhibitors to allocate plenty of shows in recent times.
The battle for screens and shows will continue in Week 2, so steady / good collections during the weekdays will be crucial for both Bajirao Mastani and Dilwale.