While John Abraham's film rakes in some impressive moolah, SRK's 'Chennai Express' sets new benchmarks at the box office by raking in Rs 197 crore in 19 days
With Milan Luthria’s 'Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara' not really faring well at the box office, all eyes were on John Abraham-Nargis Fakhri starrer 'Madras Cafe'. The Shoojit Sircar directorial opened across a modest 1,200 screens and managed to rake in approximately Rs 5 crore on the opening day.
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With good word-of-mouth favouring the film, the collections rose to another Rs 7 crore on Saturday and Rs 8 crore on Sunday. In the meanwhile, Rohit Shetty’s 'Chennai Express' has been setting new benchmarks at the box office, raking in Rs 197 crore in 19 days. While Milan’s film collected a meagre Rs 5 crore over the weekend.
Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, “'Madras Cafe' is doing good. The film initially didn’t open well on Friday, as it wasn’t considered hot in the circuit but it gained momentum on Saturday and Sunday. It is doing well in the multiplexes compared to the single screens.
But now it is to be seen if the film breaks even or goes on to recover its money. 'Chennai Express' is also holding good. Among Hollywood films, 'The Conjuring' is doing well while there are long queues for the Marathi film 'Duniyadari'.”
According to distributor and exhibitor Akshaye Rathi despite not being a conventionally commercial film, 'Madras Cafe' has managed to impress diverse sections of the audience. “While the thrilling storytelling style keeps the masses on the edge of their seats, the historical references in the film makes for a great treat for the intellectual audience. This way, the collections have jumped by the day.
Rohit Shetty’s style to appeal to the masses has worked in Chennai Express’ favour. SRK’s post-release promotional blitzkrieg has allowed the film to push steam despite the release of a major film every week,” he adds. Says distributor Suniel Wadhwa, “Madras Cafe’s opening was not too bad as the audiences were hungry for good content. Saturday showed an impressive growth and Sunday too was satisfactory.”u00a0