Salman's Dabangg beats Aamir's 3 Idiots

Though Salman Khan has been lying low at the box-office for quite some time with successive flops (Veer, Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, London Dreams), he strikes back fearlessly with Dabangg. After his last hit Wanted which released in the same season, Salman Khan repeats the success of Wanted with Dabangg which is modeled on similar lines.

Expectations were humungous from the film but Dabangg has surpassed all of them grossing in an unbeatable opening weekend collection of Rs.48.25 crore. The film has broken the earlier held record for the biggest opening weekend collections which was credited to 3 Idiots at Rs 41 crore. Interestingly, unlike 3 Idiots, Dabangg had no paid previews on Thursday and neither were the ticket rates hiked. That proves Salman Khan's star power.

Set in rustic and rugged Uttar Pradesh, Abhinav Kashyap's directorial debut set cash registers ringing with collections of approximately Rs.14.50 crore, Rs.15.75 crore and Rs.18 crore on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively, adding up to approximately Rs.48.25 crore, according to trade sources.

The film's success has not only benefited Salman, but establishes his brother Arbaaz Khan as a successful producer. "The audience response of Dabangg has really humbled me... Dabangg is the biggest grosser of all time for the weekend. Shattering all records everywhere! I'm so proud of Salman and my entire team," said Arbaaz on his social networking account.

With the rustic setting and Salman Khan's larger-than-life antics the film was supposed to be a crowd-puller at single screens. Interestingly Dabangg is doing outstanding business even at the multiplexes.

With Eid on Friday and Ganesh Chathurti on Saturday, the film enjoyed an extended holiday period which added to its collections. And a Salman Khan release during Eid is bound to be big hit.

The movie has got an Eid effect as it released in the festive weekend. It has no competition as earlier releases (We Are Family, Aashayein, Lafangey Parindey) didn't do well and there is no big release in the coming week too. These are rare circumstances that we see in the Indian film industry.

With no big release in the upcoming week (smallies like For Real and A Distant Mirage are no competition to Dabangg) the film has another clear week to reap in benefits. But there are mixed opinions on this.

"Dabangg won't have an overall 3 Idiots effect because that one had a very good word of mouth and people came to watch it with family. But you can't recommend this one to your father or your elders, you can just watch it once and get entertained," says Delhi-based distributor Joginder Mahajan. "Then 3 Idiots maintained its business in the second and third week but this one doesn't look that promising".

While the film has already made profits, it needs to be seen how big it becomes in weeks to come.


Film: Dabangg

Position: 1

Director: Abhinav Singh Kashyup

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Sonu Sood, Vinod Khanna

Upside: Salman's style, performance, dancing, attitude. Good music. Hard-hitting action. Sonakshi Sinha looks beautiful. Dialogue drame-baazi

Downside: Outdated plot, all other actors wasted

Running Week: 1

Trade Comments: Dabangg has got the biggest opening for a Hindi film with Rs 48 cr collection over the weekend, beating the earlier held record of 3 Idiots (Rs 41 cr). Interestingly, unlike 3 Idiots, Dabangg had no paid previews on Thursday and neither were the ticket rates hiked. That proves Salman Khan's star power.

Indiatimes Rating: *** (Read Review)

Film: We Are Family

Position: 2

Director: Siddharth P Malhotra

Cast: Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal

Upside: Decent performances by Kajol and Kareena Kapoor

Downside: Dull music, stretched climax, Indianized ending

Running Week: 2

Box Office Verdict: Below average

Indiatimes Rating: *** (Read Review)





Film: Lafangey Parindey

Position: 3

Director: Pradeep Sarkar

Cast: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Deepika Padukone

Upside: Good performances, decent music, skating sequences

Downside: Average story

Running Week: 4

Box Office Verdict: Average due to its moderate budget.



Film: Peepli [Live]

Position: 4

Director: Anusha Rizvi

Cast: Omkar Das Manikpuri, Raghuveer Yadav, Vishal O Sharma

Upside: Smart social satire, superb spoofs on media, brilliant performances, good music

Downside: Pace drops at times

Running Week: 5

Box Office Report: Superhit

Indiatimes Review: *** ½ (Read Review)



Film: Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

Position: 5

Director: Milan Luthria

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai, Randeep Hooda

Upside: Superb metaphorical dialogues in Salim-Javed style, good drama, powerful performances, melodious music, brilliant recreation of the retro era

Downside: Unnecessary item number in second half, abrupt end.

Running Week: 7

Box Office Verdict: Hit

Indiatimes Review: **** (Read Review)