Sunny Leone and Vir Das during the promotion of "Mastizaade"
Sunny Leone and Vir Das during the promotion of "Mastizaade"IANS

"Mastizaade" featuring Sunny Leone, Tusshar Kapoor and Vir Das seems to be bucking the trend of Bollywood films minting money at the box office, disappointing investors of the film's production company, Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), listed on stock exchanges in India.

"Mastizaade", made with an all-inclusive budget of Rs 30 crore, earned Rs 5.59 crore on its opening day on 29 January, at a time when two other movies released a week earlier – "Airlift" and "Kya Kool Hain Hum 3" -- were still doing good business at the box office.

To put things in perspective, "Airlift" earned more than double the amount on its opening day on 22 January.

The movie continues to be a profitable venture, with box office collections holding steady even in the second week.

"Airlift" is about the biggest evacuation exercise -- about 1.7 lakh Indians -- from Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait Gulf war. The film also features Nimrat Kaur, Feryna Wazheir, Purab Kohli, Lena, Kumud Mishra and Prakash Belawadi.

"Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3" starring Tusshar Kapoor and Mandana Karimi earned Rs 8.15 crore on its first day.

Tepid response to "Mastizaade"

The lukewarm response to adult comedy "Mastizaade" is evident of the unpredictable nature of Bollywood movies, which still continues to lure many investors, some of whom are celebs themselves, such as Shah Rukh Khan, who has his own production house, Red Chillies Entertainment. 

"Mastizaade", which was released in about 1,800 screens across India, seems to have failed to lure movie buffs, notwithstanding the massive advertising and promotion campaign that has become a hallmark these days for any movie launch.

PNC was hopeful of "Mastizaade" becoming a box office blockbuster, as was evident from its regulatory filing with the BSE last month. 

"Mastizaade has all the popular trends of being a blockbuster. The first motion poster went viral within minutes of its release on the Internet. The teaser trailer has hit almost 4 million views already, breaking all records."

But collections at the box office tell a different story.

Actor, producer and critic Kamaal R Khan said that the prospects for the film in the coming days for the movie are bleak.

On Friday, when Indian stock markets rebounded, the PNC stock corrected sharply by 4.46% to Rs 21.40. 

Eros International Media, with interests in film production and distribution, was successful with the Ranveer-Deepika-Priyanka starrer "Bajirao Mastani" while Balaji Telefilms, whose "Kya Kool Hain Hum 3" was released on 22 January, is doing reasonably well.

Both Eros and Balaji Telefilms are listed on stock exchanges in India.