Ok, so ‘achche din’ are here at the multiplexes. Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Gabbar Is Back and Piku have done good business at the box office. If Gabbar Is Back took the best opening of the year, Tanu Weds Manu grew from strength to strength and is still bringing in audience. As for Piku, it had the lowest opening amongst the three and still managed to sustain very well based on word of mouth. At this time, when audience is back in mood to watch films, the arrival of Dil Dhadakne Do is good news indeed as it has the kind of ingredients that warrant good footfalls in theaters.
First and foremost, it is a true multi-starrer that is hitting the screens after a really long time. Moreover, it has a director (Zoya Akhtar) at the helm of affairs who has always taken a different path and has made an impression each time around (Luck By Chance, Zindagi Na Milego Dobara). This isn’t all as the entire cast has gone all out to promote the film really heavily, which means there is no issue on the awareness quotient. Also, the look of the film warrants that it makes for a big screen watch.
What pegs the film down a bit is the lack of a single chartbuster song. Something like that would have done wonders for the film’s opening. Moreover, the film’s supremely up-market look means that from the opening perspective, it would basically attract a much larger pie of audience at the multiplexes. There, it is bound to take the best opening of the year. At the other centers, it would depend on the word of mouth.
While it is a given that the film would most certainly cross the 10 crore mark on the opening day, it would be interesting to see if 13 crore opening of Gabbar Is Back is surpassed as well. It is possible as well, but all would depend on how the film is received in the first half of Friday. If it gets thumbs-up from the audience, the film has in it to race towards the best opening record of 2015. Fingers crossed.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder