MUMBAI: Director Indra Kumar and producer Ashok Thakeria’s sex comedy gets a thundering response across India and with a massive weekend opening expected to be in the range of Rs 40 crore, the adult comedy beats Horror Story and John Day by a huge margin…as expected
Sex sells…. and how! Director Indra Kumar and producer Ashok Thakeria’s hugely anticipated adult comedy Grand Masti starring Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani and six female actors – Karishma Tanna, Manjari Fadnis, Bruna Abdallah, Sonalee Kulkarni, Kainaat Arora and Maryam Zakaria – has certainly lived up to expectations and opened to packed screens in theatres across India. And it’s going strong, as we write this! If trade sources are to be believed, the Grand Masti opening is the fourth highest of 2013 after super successful films Chennai Express, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Race 2.
“People in India watch films like The Ugly Truth, American Pie, The Hangover and enjoy them, but when similar films are made in India, they are strangely labelled cheap, crass and vulgar by the same people who enjoy Hollywood flicks from the same genre!” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi. “Grand Masti is one of those films that dares to stand up against this silly mindset and does what films are meant to do – entertain! It’s not a film for every section of the social strata and demographic, but the collections clearly prove that it has appealed to the audience it’s made for and become a runaway success already. The weekend collections break-up: Friday Rs 11.85 crore, Saturday Rs 12.15 crore and Sunday Rs 15 crore.”
Trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh opines, “The release strategy of GM was restricted to slightly over 2,000 screens, with cineplexes performing eight to ten shows every day, thus avoiding overkill. But the tremendous business only goes to prove that the audience verdict is full and final. The grand start also demonstrates that there’s a big disconnect between the audiences and critics, who gave GM zero stars. The other two releases (Horror Story and John Day) were totally sidelined. With a terrific start and fab weekend on hand, it’s safe to say that GM is all set to be a big success.”
Talking about the relatively low budget horror flick Horror Story, Rathi explains, “The opening numbers of Horror Story are not something its makers can rave about, but the silver lining here is its smart shoestring budget – something all the three Bhatts (Mahesh, Mukesh and Vikram) have been pioneers of! It may not be anywhere close to becoming a runaway hit, but its modest budgets should at least help its makers break even after gathering whatever comes in from the theatrical, satellite and home video rights.”
As Adarsh sums it up, “2013 is proving to be one of the best years for film business. Varied genres are attracting audiences to cineplexes in hordes week after week. Aur kya chahiye?”
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