Two romantic films, Abhishek Kapoor's 'Fitoor' and Divya Khosla Kumar's 'Sanam Re', hit theatres just ahead of Valentine's Day and while the industry's bet was on the former, the audience showed little love for it. The other emerged as the dark horse, much to the surprise of trade pundits.
Right from day one, 'Sanam Re' starring Yami Gautam, Pulkit Samrat and Urvashi Rautela remained ahead in the numbers game. Performance of 'Fitoor' was lacklustre despite a bigger star cast (Katrina Kaif and Aditya Roy Kapur) and budget (nearly Rs 60 crore).
"Fitoor's lukewarm opening took many in the industry by surprise since much was expected from the director who has films like 'Rock On' and 'Kai Po Che' to his credit.
The collections improved only marginally on Sunday. It seems to be the first major setback of the year. However, it managed to garner critical acclaim. 'Sanam Re' collections were not up to the mark, but it generated better results," says trade expert Amod Mehra.
After starting out with just Rs 3.61 crore on Friday, collections of 'Fitoor' somewhat rose over the weekend, says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, adding: "The film benefited from the Valentine's Day spirit, but overall, numbers remained low. It catered to a tiny section of the audience. Sanam Re had a super weekend."
Mehra says Sanam Re's business was steady on Saturday and improved on Sunday, and if it maintains the momentum through week days, it can get to the 'safe' mark. It must be mentioned that the film managed to get more screens than 'Fitoor'.
Hollywood's anti-superhero film 'Deadpool' featuring Ryan Reynolds proved to be the surprise package of the week, adds Mehra. The film did a domestic business of Rs 14.25 crore, which was slightly more than Fitoor's figures.
BO stats
Rs 17.05cr
'Sanam Re' (first weekend)
Rs 14.25 cr
'Deadpool' (first weekend)
Rs 14.11cr
'Fitoor' (first weekend)
