Box office opens festive weekend at Rs 21 cr

While Ae Dil Hai Mushkil performed as expected with Rs 13.3 crore in opening collection, Shivaay fell short of predictions at Rs 9 crore

Urvi Malvania | Mumbai October 29, 2016 Last Updated at 22:50 IST

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Starting one of the most important weekends of the year at the box office, the two Diwali releases from Bollywood – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) and Shivaay have raked in a combined collection of Rs 21.3 crore. While ADHM performed in line with expectations collecting Rs 13.3 crore (projection was Rs 13 to 15 crore), Shivaay fell tad short of the prediction at Rs 9 crore (projection was Rs 10-12 crore).

ADHM is a love story directed by Karan Johar and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwariya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma in lead roles with Fawad Khan in a special performance. Shivaay on the other hand is in the action thriller genre with Ajay Devgn as the director and lead actor.

Both the films are made at around Rs 100 crore and were released in similar number of screens – between 2800 and 3000. However, while Shivaay had a strong presence in the single screens, ADHM was clearly skewed towards multiplexes. In terms of collections too, the Karan Johar directed film has done very well with multiplex properties, while Shivaay has performed better in single screens. In terms of the division of shows at screens, ADHM has 60 per cent of the share, mainly due to its shorter length as compared to Shivaay.

ADHM has been co-produced by Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios while Shivaay has been co-produced by Devgn, Kumar Mangat and Jayantilal Gada (Pen, a production house).

Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions says, "We are thrilled and humbled with the love people are showering on Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. It is a perfect Diwali entertainer and it has started on a very good note. The film has emerged as the biggest opener of Karan Johar which gives us twice the reason to celebrate!"

Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, says, "We are overwhelmed and humbled with the response. We congratulate Karan Johar, a master of making iconic romantic movies, for his biggest opening with Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The film is about celebrating love this Diwali and it is receiving outstanding love from audiences."

While neither film has got stellar reviews from critics, ADHM has more positive reviews and word of mouth and is expected to continue performing in line with predictions, finishing the weekend (Friday-Sunday) with Rs 40-45 crore while Shivaay is expected to rake in Rs 25-30 crore, if the occupancy does not fall further.

Monday however is expected to be the biggest day for both films. With Diwali falling on Sunday, the occupancy at the movie halls has been hindered as people indulge in festive socialising. Monday is a holiday at most offices and schools and colleges and analysts expect the highest single day collections for both the films to come on the day.