Bodyguard smashes all records

Everyone was forecasting " Bodyguard" to open to big box-office collections, but no one anticipated the massive response the movie ended up generating. The film, which opened on Eid on Wednesday, ran to packed houses in the country, with trade analysts predicting the collections to be in the range of `18-20 crore.

During the last couple of years, it was Salman's other big ticket release, "Dabangg" (`14.35 crore), and Aamir Khan's "3 Idiots" (`12.5 crore), which had shown the biggest openings.

Says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, "Salman is something else now. I think the movie has earned almost `20 crore on day one and over the weekend, it will cross `85-90 crore." Komal Nahta is more conservative in his estimates and pegs the weekend collection at `65-70 crore. However, Nahta says the film has broken all international records too. Says Nahta, "In Dubai, the movie opened on Tuesday because that's when Eid was celebrated. While "Dabangg" had opened with 7 lakh dirhams (`87 lakh), "Bodyguard" made 11 lakh dirhams (`1.36 crore). In London, the movie opened with a collection of 60,000 pounds (`44.4 lakh) on Tuesday, which too is unheard of. It has broken all previous records for any Bollywood film."

While analysts hail Salman and the film as a box office miracle, multiplex and single screen officials tell us that various strategies have come together to help the film. Says Tinku Singh, group president, SRS group, "In NCR, we ran 53 shows in Faridabad, and 22 and 30 shows in Gurgaon and Indirapuram. The total collection on day one was `24 lakh. It is houseful across the country. After the "Aarakshan" fiasco, everyone's rejoicing with this movie. And the thing to remember here is that the movie opened on a Wednesday, so it will have five days, plus two more weekends at least, to make a lot more money."

Also, "Boduguard" opened to weekend pricing across most multiplexes, giving them much more revenue. However, PVR Cinemas chose to go ahead with weekday pricing for Wednesday, and reported 95% occupancy in the morning shows, and 100% occupancy towards the evening. Out of 550 shows in PVR halls, approximately 325 were played in Delhi and Punjab. Says Deepa Menon, vice president, corporate communications for PVR Cinemas, "The movie saw an excellent opening in Delhi-NCR, ending the day with nearly 95% occupancy, which is quite phenomenal. This definitely is one of the biggest openings on day one that we've seen."

Even in single-screen theatres, the film has done record-breaking business in Delhi-NCR. While Vishal in Rajouri Garden reported a total of `4.5 lakh in four shows, all four shows were houseful in Delite, said Sunil Parashar, media coordinator for Dellite. Sheila Cinema in Paharganj too, saw four full shows, totalling a collection of over `3 lakh. Says Parashar, "During "Ready", ticket prices had been increased by 20% even in single-screen halls. But for "Bodyguard", even at normal single-screen prices, the movie has broken all records. Most single screens are houseful till Sunday."