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Top openings for Bollywood since the pandemic; Sooryavanshi tops, Gangubai Kathiawadi third
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi starring Alia Bhatt in a titular role becomes the highest non-holiday opener and the third biggest opener for Bollywood since the pandemic.
Box Office in India came to a standstill after the Covid-19 pandemic which put a complete halt to the exhibition sector. For the first time in years, all theatres in India were shut. Such unprecedented times led to decisions we never imagined would ever be taken. For the first time, we saw Bollywood content directly released on OTT instead of the customary theatrical route.
At the start, movie creators received a lot of scrutiny for their action of skipping the theatrical mode of releasing movies. But eventually, everyone in the value chain understood that filmmakers could not hold onto their movies for long and needed to release their movie in whichever mode they could, to recoup investments. Also, exhibitors understood that the advent of OTT would help in the decluttering of content that had limited appeal, thus benefiting bigger movies to get a better theatrical release.
The unlock procedure started in late 2020, thus resulting in the opening of theatres. The theatres however were asked to run with a capacity cap and follow strict Covid19 protocols. Due to the restrictions imposed, filmmakers didn’t find it feasible to release films in theatres. The first major step to revive theatres came from the South with Kollywood Superstar Vijay’s film Master opting for a theatres-first release. The film performed exceedingly well and then there was a plethora of releases that found great success theatrically. There were a few hiccups like the 2nd and 3rd wave which slowed down the proceedings, but, the theatrical sector saw through tough times and now they are pretty much out of it with three films from three different movie industries, namely, Valimai, Bheemla Nayak and Gangubai Kathiawadi putting up great numbers this weekend.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi starring Alia Bhatt secured the third biggest opening and the biggest non-holiday opening for a Bollywood film since the start of the pandemic. Being a film driven by a female and given that it was released on a non-holiday Friday, the numbers are good, though, given the costs involved in the film, the numbers are mediocre. Gangubai Kathiawadi has performed well considering the fact that Bollywood films have not really got going like the films in the other industries. If the film sees an upward trend over the weekend and sees a less than 40% fall vis-à-vis Friday on its first Monday, it will be termed a successful venture.
Here is a list of the biggest Bollywood opening days since the start of the pandemic.
Sooryavanshi – Rs. 26.11 cr nett (Post Diwali day)
83 – Rs. 11.96 cr nett (Christmas Eve)
Gangubai Kathiawadi – Rs. 9.50 cr nett (Non-Holiday)
Antim – Rs. 4.78 cr nett (Non-Holiday)
Tadap – Rs. 3.81 cr nett (Non-Holiday)
Which films do you expect will make it to this prestigious list?
Written by Rishil Jogani
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