Despite being pitted against a big film like "Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon", Rituparno Ghosh's intimate "Raincoat" has emerged a sure-fire winner at the box office.

The film has drawn a net collection of Rs.4.5 million in the first week and Rs.3 million in the second week (on 33 prints), according to the film's Mumbai distributor, Hemant Shah of Tilak Enterprises, reports Bollywood Trade.

"I was initially dissuaded by other people in the trade who felt that an offbeat film like 'Raincoat' would not be able to take on a big film like 'Ab Tumhare...' But I trusted my gut feeling and decided to go for the film.

"It worked. The film is doing fantastic business in all the multiplexes and considering the terms on which I acquired it, it has paid off rich dividends," smiles Shah.

He says the psyche of the audience has changed and stereotypical commercial subjects are no more viable propositions.