The smiles have returned back to the faces of the Hindi film trade people. And after very long! Reason: the excellent opening of Drishyam 2 yesterday (18th November) after a spate of flops, failures and box-office debacles.
The advance booking of the Drishyam sequel in multiplexes of the three national chains (PVR, Inox and Cinepolis) had been impressive. In fact, the brisk sale of tickets of the Ajay Devgan, Tabu and Akshaye Khanna starrer at those multiplexes had given the trade an indication that the film would open well on Friday (18th). It did open fairly well in some circuits and very well in a few of them like C.I. But collections shot up phenomenally from the evening shows even at places where the start was just fair. The jump in box-office numbers one got to see in the shows at 5-6 p.m. and thereafter was beyond any calculation. Of course, those who have their ear to the ground had estimated that the day would close at or around Rs. 13-14 crore, but even they were proven wrong when the actual figures surfaced today. The first day for Drishyam 2 closed at Rs. 15.38 crore!
In other words, the opening day’s collections of Drishyam 2 were better than those of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, another hit sequel, which released earlier this year. In fact, the initial of Drishyam 2 is the second best this year so far, after only Brahmastra: Part 1 – Shiva.
As if this is not music to the ears, the pre-release reports of next week’s release, Bhediya, are also very good. What all go in favour of the film are that the subject is novel and does not tread the beaten path, the songs are extremely popular, the film’s director is Amar Kaushik (Stree and Bala), and the film is being extensively and aggressively promoted. If Bhediya next week also takes a flying start, the glad tidings will continue in the Hindi film trade which has seen one of the worst periods this year, what with big-budgeted and big star cast films falling like nine pins at the turnstiles.
Let’s just pray!