19 February,2018 09:25 AM IST | Mumbai | Sonil Dedhia
Despite being the big-ticket Bollywood release of the week, Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Aiyaary failed to set the cash registers ringing over its opening weekend. After opening to collections of Rs 3.36 crore on Friday, the Neeraj Pandey-directed film collected Rs 4.04 crore on Saturday, thus taking the two-day tally to Rs 7.40 crore. Interestingly, Black Panther earned over Rs 12 crore by Saturday.
Trade pundit Girish Wankhede says that Aiyaary found an unlikely competitor in the superhero film. "The Thursday paid previews and the first two-day collection of Black Panther is Rs 12.25 crore. It performed way better than Aiyaary and will sustain the momentum," he says.
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Wankhede adds that the shuffle in release dates could have led to a decrease in interest in the Army drama. "Considering the film has a patriotic flavour, a Republic Day release would have been ideal. But the delay caused a big damage." Trade expert Komal Nahta says, "This is the first time Neeraj Pandey has faltered. Negative reviews and poor word of mouth contributed to the film's debacle."
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