It’s once again the triumph of content, of the victory of the South Indian film industry over the Hindi film industry. Believe it or faint, while collections of Laal Singh Chaddha and Raksha Bandhan have brought anything but cheer in the industry, the box-office takings of the Hindi dubbed version of Telugu film Karthikeya 2 are impressive, very impressive. Like LSC and RB, Karthikeya 2 (dubbed) was also released on an odd day this week. However, while the two Hindi films got the advantage of an extra day (Thursday, August 11), Karthikeya 2 had to be content opening on Saturday (August 13) instead of the usual Friday.
The public reports of the South film were fantastic right from the first show even though the initial was ordinary because of the lack of promotion. But like no amount of promotion can augment the collections of a weak film, poor promotion can’t bog down a film with merits. Collections began to shoot up from the second day itself and, in some cases, from the second show itself. As a result, exhibitors are now allotting additional shows to Karthikeya 2. Says Ashutosh Agarwal of Starworld chain of cinemas, “Karthikeya 2 is running to full houses since Sunday across the Hindi belt. We had opened the film at three locations viz. Allahabad, Aligarh and Mathura in one show each. Collections are now 80%! We are also opening the film at other locations of Starworld Cinemas. Several multiplexes in Delhi have also increased the number of shows of the film from August 15.”
Shows and cinemas of the dubbed film have been increased after the public response on the first day. Take a look at the collections of all the three releases of last week at cinemas and multiplexes of Rajhans (which has major presence in the state of Gujarat):
Laal Singh Chaddha: Thursday – Rs. 17,30,853; Friday – Rs. 6,06,319; Saturday – Rs. 7,87,953; Sunday – Rs. 7,95,141; Monday – Rs. 5,10,273; Tuesday – Rs. 1,31,591; Wednesday – Rs. 64,248.
Raksha Bandhan: Thursday – Rs. 23,89,148; Friday – Rs. 8,23,539; Saturday – Rs. 8,28,022; Sunday – Rs. 10,80,712; Monday – Rs. 7,29,061; Tuesday – Rs. 1,81,118; Wednesday – Rs. 97,940.
Karthikeya 2 (dubbed): Thursday – not released; Friday – not released; Saturday – Rs. 29,746; Sunday – Rs. 2,79,778; Monday – Rs. 4,56,188; Tuesday – Rs. 2,37,549; Wednesday – Rs. 2,03,191.
So, LSC, which started at Rs. 17 lakh on the first day, has come down to Rs. 1.31 lakh on the 6th day, and Rs. 64,000 on the 7th day. Similarly, RB started at Rs. 23.89 lakh on Thursday but came down to Rs. 1.81 lakh on the 6th day, and Rs. 98,000 on the 7th day. On the other hand, the Hindi dubbed version of Karthikeya 2 started at Rs. 29,000 on day 1 but its fourth day’s collections at Rajhans properties totalled Rs. 2.37 lakh, and its fifth day’s total was Rs. 2.03 lakh. Point to be noted is that while Karthikeya 2 (dubbed) opened in just two properties of Rajhans on Saturday, that too, in daily 1 show only, it is now running in seven to eight properties of the chain. What’s more, each property is running the film in one screen in all the shows of the day!