Last weekend's box office battle was a case of "when two fight, the third one wins it all". Fresh releases Sunny Leone-starrer 'Mastizaade' (Read review) and Rajkumar Hirani's 'Saala Khadoos' (Read review) proved no match for holdover hit 'Airlift' (Read review) as it dominated the public's movie menu even in its second weekend. The patriotic drama featuring Akshay Kumar has comfortably made it to the Rs 100-crore league now.
Trade pundit Taran Adarsh says, "'Airlift' had an impressive first week run with business escalating over the weekend. It remains the first choice of moviegoers and is Akshay's fourth film to have crossed Rs 100 crore after 'Housefull 2' (2012), 'Rowdy Rathore' (2012) and 'Holiday' (2014). The overseas collections have also been good."
As far as the latest releases are concerned, sex comedy Mastizaade had a slow start and found limited takers due to its risque content while sports drama 'Saala Khadoos' attracted the niche audience. "'Mastizaade' met the same fate as the previous week's sex comedy, 'Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3'. On the other hand, there were high expectations from 'Saala Khadoos' as it has been produced by Rajkumar Hirani. However, the collections have not matched the appreciation it received from several quarters," says trade expert Amod Mehra.
Collections of the sports film starring R Madhavan and boxer-turned-actress Ritika Singh, however, picked up over the weekend. "Sunday's business was almost double of what we saw on Friday. The word of mouth publicity is quite good," adds Adarsh.
BO stats
Rs 9.93cr
'Saala Khadoos' (opening weekend)
Rs 18.20cr
'Mastizaade' (opening weekend)
Rs 58.46cr
'Airlift' (second weekend; overall: Rs 102.76 cr)
