This Friday's solo Hindi release is going to be the Abbas-Mustan directed Abhishek, Bobby, Bipasha, Sonam and Neil starrer PLAYERS. Though the first week of January is considered to be an inauspicious period for new films but the myth was busted last year by NO ONE KILLED JESSICA, and PLAYERS will hopefully do the same. The film is expected to open quite well especially in North (Delhi-U.P.), South and UK.
The only new release of last week, former IPS officer Y.P. Singh's KYA YAHI SACH HAI, has opened to poor collections of below 10 percent and has been rejected as the audience preferred the week old DON 2.
Moving on to Farhan Akhtar's Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra starrer, DON : THE KING IS BACK, after a superb weekend the film continued its good run even during the weekdays as it collected 8.50 crore from Bombay (collections from 57 cinemas unreceived), 2.50 crore from Ahmedabad, 50 lakhs from Surat, 67 lakhs from Baroda (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived), 60 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.20 crore from Pune, 38.50 lakhs from Nasik, 27 lakhs from Goa, 7 crore from Delhi city, 1 crore from Noida, 70 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 55 lakhs from Kanpur, 1 crore from Lucknow, 12.25 lakhs from Agra, 25 lakhs from Allahabad, 1.50 crore from Gurgaon, 20 lakhs from Faridabad, 7 lakhs from Kurukshetra, 10.30 lakhs from Panipat, 41 lakhs from Chandigarh, 15.50 lakhs from Jalandhar, 13 lakhs from lakhs from Amritsar, 18 lakhs from Ludhiana, 2.35 crore from Calcutta, 2.50 lakhs from Darjeeling, 20 lakhs from Siliguri, 71 lakhs from Nagpur, 25.20 lakhs from Jabalpur, 45 lakhs from Raipur, 85 lakhs from Indore (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived), 12 lakhs from Gwalior (collections from 6 cinemas unreceived), 55 lakhs from Bhopal (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 2 crore from Jaipur, 20 lakhs from Ajmer, 13.35 lakhs from Bikaner, 47 lakhs from Kota, 3 lakhs from Sriganganagar, 28 lakhs from Udaipur, 2.20 crore from Hyderabad, 33 lakhs from Aurangabad (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived), 15 lakhs from Latur, 2.60 crore from Bangalore, 24 lakhs from Mangalore, 14 lakhs from Vijyayawada, 15.40 lakhs from Visakhapatnam and 15 lakhs from Madras. During the opening week DON 2 has netted 71.75 crores with the dubbed (Tamil & Telugu) version adding another 3 crores. Given the rock steady second weekend of 19 crores (approx) the film is a clear hit for Reliance Big Entertainment, who paid Rs. 80 crore (excluding print & publicity cost) for the global rights of DON 2. Needless to add that DON: THE KING IS BACK is an overseas blockbuster with $11 million worldwide, and the biggest grosser of the year (beating RA.ONE). The film has grossed ?1,184,500 from UK till the second weekend (December 30 – January 1) and $3,288,750 from the US during the second 4-day weekend (December 30 -January 2).
Meanwhile Yash Raj Films' LADIES V/S RICKY BAHL crashed further as it collected 20 lakhs from Bombay (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 5 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1 lakh from Surat, 1 lakh from Baroda (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 1 lakh from Pune, 12.55 lakhs from Delhi city, 2 lakhs from Noida, 1 lakh from Ghaziabad, 1.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 2 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.20 lakhs from Chandigarh, 2 lakhs from Calcutta, 1.75 lakhs from Indore, 1.50 lakhs from Jaipur (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 3.65 lakhs from Hyderabad and 2 lakhs from Bangalore. With another crore during its latest run LADIES VS RICKY BAHL has netted 32.50 crores in three weeks from India. The film is an average plus fare after accounting for the non-theatrical rights. LADIES VS RICKY BAHL has failed in the overseas grossing ?172,000 from UK till the fourth weekend (December 30 – January 1) and $ 222,000 from the US.
Concluding with Balaji Motion Pictures and Alt. Entertainment's Milan Lutharia directed Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor starrer, THE DIRTY PICTURE, the film had the first big fall but still did well as it collected 35 lakhs from Bombay (collections from 15 cinemas unreceived), 12.75 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 2.20 lakhs from Surat, 2 lakhs from Baroda (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived), 2.25 lakhs from Pune, 1.20 lakhs from Nasik, 20.35 lakhs from Delhi city, 3.55 lakhs from Noida, 2.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1.50 lakhs from Kanpur, 4.65 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.50 lakhs from Agra, 1.20 lakhs from Allahabad, 2 lakhs from Gurgaon, 2 lakhs from Chandigarh, 5 lakhs from Calcutta, 4.50 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.50 lakhs from Jabalpur, 2 lakhs from Raipur, 3 lakhs from Indore, 1 lakh from Bhopal, 2 lakhs from Jaipur (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived), 5.75 lakhs from Hyderabad, 2 lakhs from Aurangabad (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 7 lakhs from Bangalore (collections from 4 cinemas unreceived) and 1 lakh from Mangalore. Adding another 2 crores THE DIRTY PICTURE has netted 78 crores in four weeks from India. Additionally the dubbed (Tamil & Telugu ) versions has added another 4 crores. It is but a formality to say that THE DIRTY PICTURE is a blockbuster. The film though has not done well in the overseas (better in US) grossing ?131,500 from UK and $462,000 from the US.
