Maa Gives Kajol Her First Solo Success!

With
movies
doing
well
at
the
box
office,
it’s
time
for
the
film
industry
to
rejoice.

Last
week,

Sitaare
Zameen
Par
achieved


superhit
status.

The
film
has
earned
Rs
123
crore/Rs
1.23
billion
so
far
and
counting.

This
week,
the
Kajol-starrer

Maa
has
taken
a
good
start.

On
Friday,
the
film
collected
Rs
4.93
crore
(Rs
49.3
million),
exceeding
expectations,
as
it
was
a
female-centric
film
with
a
strong
local
(Bengali)
influence.

Still,

Maa
managed
to
do
well
at
all
major
centres
of
the
country,
right
through
the
weekend,
with
Rs
19
crore*
(Rs
190
million)
being
gathered
at
the
box
office.

Kajol
has
not
scored
a
solo
lead
success
before
this.

The
horror
drama
is
all
set
to
have
a
lifetime
collections
of
over
Rs
40
crore
(Rs
400
million).

The
Hollywood
release

F1:
The
Movie
also
took
a
good
start
at
the
box
office,
scoring
a
half
century
in
its
first
weekend.

The
signs
of
it
emerging
as
a
box
office
success
were
visible
on
Wednesday
itself
when
a
paid
preview
show
saw
a
full
house.

The
film
opened
in
the
excess
of
Rs
5
crore
(Rs
50
million)
on
Friday
and
then
went
on
to
show
good
progress
over
the
weekend,
resulting
in
Rs
20
crore*
(Rs
200
million)
collections.

Reviews
of
this
Brad
Pitt-starrer
are
good
and
though
the
sports
drama
genre
doesn’t
have
a
precedence
of
doing
well
in
India,
this
one
is
an
exception.

The
Telugu
film

Kannappa
didn’t
find
any
takers
in
its
Hindi
version.

There
were
no
promotions
around
it
and
barely
any
screens.

When
a
film
just
sees
a
token
release,
it
gets
a
limited
chance
to
do
well.

Moreover,
barring
the
climax,
reviews
weren’t
too
great
for
the
film.
So
it
saw
an
opening
weekend
of
under
Rs
1
crore*
(Rs
10
million),
it
will
barely
collect
Rs
2
crore
to
Rs
3
crore
(Rs
20
million
to
Rs
30
million)
in
its
lifetime
for
the
Hindi
version.

*Estimates.

Note:
All
collections
as
per
various
box
office
sources.

Photographs
curated
by
Satish
Bodas/Rediff