If box office figures are anything to go by, Ayushmann Khurrana has beaten Nana Patekar hands down. While the opening weekend collection of 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' (DLKH) was Rs 6 crore, 'Ab Tak Chhappan 2' trailed at Rs 3.75 crore.
Exhibitor Rajesh Thadani says, "DLKH took a slow start, but the superb word-of-mouth buzz saw its business growing over the weekend. 'Ab Tak...' did not find any appreciation at all, though it had fared better on the day of its release."
Trade analysts feel movie franchises have that initial crowd-pulling ability, but the 'Ab Tak' sequel failed to live up to the audience's expectations. Analyst Amod Mehra states, "The film opened to dull houses on Friday and as the film was slammed by critics, the collections remained on the lower side. The audience has totally rejected the sequel as it is not a patch compared to the original."
He adds that Sharat Kataria's DLKH, which marked the acting debut of former casting director Bhumi Pednekar, can break even, if its business remains steady. "As it is ideal for satellite viewing, it should fetch good money to become a plus film (make profits)," Mehra says.
Vishal Anand of Fun Cinema says the weekend was quite good in terms of customer review for the Ayushmann-starrer. "It wasn't great in terms of numbers, though. But we feel that this film will only build from here, given its incredible word-of-mouth buzz," he suggests.
Number Crunch
Rs 6 crore
'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' (last weekend)
Rs 3.75 crore
'Ab Tak Chhappan 2' (last weekend)
Rs 6 crore
'Badlapur' (second week);
Overall: Rs 42.5 crore
