Last week in this very column it was predicted that the opening day of Drishyam would be in the range of 8-10 crores. The prediction came true as Friday collections read 8 crores. In fact, in the Paid Preview collections, the numbers came to 8.5 crores. Of course these were the lowest numbers for Ajay Devgn since each of his films in the recent past had collected in the double digit range on the opening day with Son of Sardaar being the lowest at 10.5 crores (courtesy, its clash with Jab Tak Hai Jaan).
However, 8 crores on Day One wasn’t bad as it set the stage for the word of mouth to set in. This is exactly what happened as the film showed escalation over the weekend. As a result, around 30 crores came over the weekend, which is decent, if not very good. The film needs to be very stable right through the weekdays to net a respectable lifetime total. This means fall on the weekdays needs to be minimal when compared to the opening day.
The film has seen good to excellent reviews all over while the word of mouth ranges from being decent to very good. This should further help the Ajay Devgn starrer keep the audiences coming.
Meanwhile, Bajrangi Bhaijaan had yet another good weekend and brought in further moolah. With 20 crores more added to its total, the film now stands at 292 crores, hence surpassing Dhoom 3’s record of 284 crores. This means that the 300 crore mark would be reached by the end of week or at most, in the fourth weekend.
Baahubali too has continued its record breaking journey, and is now in the 100 crore club. This is the first Indian dubbed film to achieve this feat. The film continued to find audience and would be in the running till the release of Brothers on 14th August.