Akshay Kumar starrer "Baby" did decent business, making it the highest opening day grosser of 2015. On the other hand, Sonam Kapoor's "Dolly Ki Doli" got a below average start.
Baby
Neeraj Pandey's directorial film "Baby" has scored the highest opening day total with ₹9.3 crore. Arjun Kapoor's "Tevar", which was the first big movie of 2015, had earned the highest amount, until now.
"Baby" is also Akshay's ninth highest opening day grosser. "Rowdy Rathore", released in 2012, is the highest first day grosser, followed by "Boss" and "Housefull 2".
The action thriller opened with 25 to 30% occupancy in morning shows, but audience response increased in the evening and night shows. Occupancy is expected to increase over the weekend as the reviews and word of mouth are very strong.
Meanwhile, the collection from the overseas market might take a slight toll, as Pakistan has banned the film. The film has been banned in the neighbouring country as it showcases "a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names," Dawn quoted a representative of the film's distributor as saying.
"I don't know why was it banned there, and we fail to understand that. We are confused because the film is about anti-terrorism. It is totally against terrorism, not against any country. We are trying to figure out what needs to be done," producer of the film Bhushan Kumar told IANS.
Dolly Ki Doli
The opening day box office collection of "Dolly Ki Doli" is lower than Bipasha Basu's "Alone". Sonam starrer minted only ₹2.55 crore on first day from Indian market, which is below average considering the pre-release hype.
"Dolly Ki Doli" will need to show tremendous growth over the weekend to survive at the box office. Even to earn the production cost, the business of the film should grow at the box office.
The film directed Abhishek Dogra features Pulkit Samrat, Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma in male lead roles.
