Recent Bollywood releases "Piku" and "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" (TWMR), which are minting good money at the Indian box office, are now fast racing towards the ₹100 crore mark in the domestic market.
Five months have passed in 2015, but Bollywood is yet to score its first century of the year. Trade experts predicted that Akshay Kumar's "Baby" and "Gabbar Is Back" will score ₹100 crore, but both ended up collecting ₹95.50 crore and ₹84 respectively. Though "Gabbar Is Back" is still running at the ticket counters, its current trends show that it may collect a maximum of ₹90 crore.
Now, all eyes are set on "Piku" and "Tanu Weds Manu Returns", which have turned out to be the big money spinners in the domestic market after "Baby" and "Gabbar Is Back". Which one of the two will join the club of ₹100 crore movies? Trade experts are quick to point out the five-day-old movie.
Why will "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" join the club of ₹100 crore movies first?
The film opened to fantastic response and collected ₹38.15 crore at the Indian box office in its opening weekend. On Monday, the flick did better business than its opening day collection. As per its present trends, the film is expected to cross the mark of ₹70 crore in the domestic market in its opening week.
In its second week, "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" will clash with "Welcome 2 Karachi", which is likely to slow down its collection. Even if its business declines by 50%, the movie will collect over ₹30 crore at the Indian box office in the second week. The film will surely join the club of ₹100 crore movies in just 14 days.
Why will two-and-half-week-old film "Piku" not join the club of ₹100 crore movies first?
The Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone starrer, which released in theatres on 8 May, collected ₹41.42 crore in its opening week and ₹23.8 crore in the second week in the domestic market.
"Piku", which has continued to keep the bells ringing at ticket counters, has collected ₹7.42 crore in the four days of its third week. As per its present trends, the movie will earn approximately ₹2.70 crore in the next three days, taking its third week total to ₹10 crore. Its domestic total is likely to stand at ₹75.34 crore by the end of its third week.
"Piku" will face tough battle with nine new Bollywood releases including "Welcome 2 Karachi", "Lateef", "Ishqedarriyaan" and "Dil Dhadakne Do" in the next three weeks. Trade analysts predict that the movie will struggle to collect remaining ₹24+ crore to cross the magical mark.
Meanwhile, few trade experts feel that "Piku" will not be able to join the elite club of ₹100 crore at all. The reason is that its business is on falling spree of 50% with each passing week. If the same happens in the coming weeks, the movie needs many weeks to achieve the magical feat and it can not sustain in theatres due to new releases.
