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Bhoothnath Returns box office collections hit Rs 30 cr as Amitabh Bachchan shines

Bhoothnath Returns box office collections get Amitabh Bachchan USP boost.

After a slow start, Amitabh Bachchan-starrer ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ picked up on the weekend and finished its first week with box office collections of over Rs 30 crore.

Based on the backdrop of politics, ‘Bhoothnath Returns’, with the advantage of releasing during elections, was expected to do quite well, but the film had a slow opening on the opening day. Of course, that was also more to do with the fact that it faced competition from the non-Hindi releases as well.

Nonetheless, the film?s box office collections went up solely on the basis of its merit.

According to trade expert Taran Adarsh, ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ box office collections has crossed Rs 30 crore in the first week of its release. ?#BhoothnathReturns Fri 4.07 cr, Sat 5.85 cr, Sun 8.10 cr, Mon 4.40 cr, Tue 3.02 cr, Wed 2.25 cr, Thu 2.45 cr. Total: ₹ 30.14 cr nett,? Adarsh tweeted.

Amitabh Bachchan, evidently, has been one of the biggest USPs for ‘Bhoothnath Returns’, but there are some who believe that the preachy nature of the film in parts may have led to a slight dent in the business.

Manoj Desai of G7 says, ?I have seen the reaction of the audience in my theatres. People are loving Amitabh Bachchan in the film, but politics being the topic of discussion everywhere these days, too much of it can be exhausting, and that may have led to an average opening of the film.?

Nevertheless, the presence of Big B, and some positive word-of-mouth surrounding the lighthearted moments in the film, led to a jump in the business for the weekend shows. ?The film opened to a weak response on Friday but consolidated a bit on Saturday and did very well on Sunday,? says trade expert Vinod Mirani.

‘Bhootnath Returns’ garnered Rs 18.02 crore in its opening weekend, according to the official statement.

Made on a budget of approximately Rs 35 crore, the makers are optimistic about revcovering the cost in the coming days. In fact, for the Sunday shows the occupancy was almost 100 per cent. Monday being Ambedkar Jayanti and a holiday for some, has worked in the film?s favour leading to a steady performance.

Another reason for ‘Bhoothnath Returns’ not matching the numbers expected is the competition from non-Hindi releases. Adarsh explains, ?Nowadays, the non-Hindi films are posing a tough competition to the Hindi releases. An uninterrupted flow of Hollywood releases is also eating into the

business of Hindi movies. Bhoothnath Returns had to compete with Hollywood release Rio 2 and a Punjabi film Disco Singh in North India, while releases like Naan Sigappu Manithan (Tamil), Race Gurram (Telugu) and Gangster (Malayalam) dominated in South India.

Apart from the non-Hindi releases, experts also believe that the friendly ghost would have received a warmer response, had there not been an overdose of ghost films of late.

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First published on: 18-04-2014 at 14:28 IST
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