IMAGE: Genelia and Riteish Deshmukh in Ved.
Ved was the last release of 2022 and arrived on December 30, a week after mega movies like Cirkus and Avatar: The Way of Water. It was a courageous decision indeed from Riteish Deshmukh (who stars, produces and directs the film) to release his film despite such huge competition.
Clearly, he had a foresight that he would make the best of the open period ahead till the arrival of Pathaan on January 25 and hence, even if Ved had a slow start, it would eventually catch up due to positive word-of-mouth.
Real life couple Genelia and Riteish Deshmukh’s romantic drama took off in full speed, evident from the Rs 2.25 crore (Rs 22.5 million) that it collected on the very first day.
On its first weekend, it collected Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) and the first week ended at Rs 20.67 crore (Rs 206.7 million).
Ved has become a blockbuster, which has already accumulated Rs 33 crore (Rs 330 million)* after the second weekend.
There has been no slowdown in the collections at all.
IMAGE: A scene from Avatar: The Way Of Water.
Avatar: The Way of Water is continuing to do what it has been doing for the last three weeks, getting steady (and high) daily collections.
If the first three weeks resulted in the film entering the Rs 300 Crore Club and then going beyond, the fourth weekend is highly impressive as well, what with Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million)* coming in. That’s excellent since so many films in 2022 have struggled to get as much in their first weekend and the James Cameron’s new venture is collecting this in the fourth weekend!
The film now stands at Rs 362 crore (Rs 3.62 billion)* and in no time, it will become the highest grossing Hollywood film in India. So far, the record has been held by Avengers: End Game, which had accumulated Rs 364 crore (Rs 3.64 bllion).
IMAGE: Shriya Saran, Ajay Devgn, Mrunal Jadhav and Ishita Dutta in Drishyam 2.
Drishyam 2 is continuing to collect excellent numbers too.
After staying consistent at the box office in its sixth and seventh week, bringing in over Rs 6 crore (Rs 60 million) each week, the eighth week is on track to bring in about Rs 3 crore-Rs 4 crore (Rs 30 million-Rs 40 million).
The weekend gone by saw more than Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) been added to its total and with Rs 239 crore (Rs 2.39 billion)* already in, the film would be aiming for a Rs 245 crore (Rs 2.45 billion) milestone.
IMAGE: Kriti Sanon and Varun Dhawan in Bhediya.
Bhediya is heading towards a 50 day run as well.
It was impacted by the Drishyam 2 wave as it arrived a week after that but found appreciation over a period of time.
It is good to see that neither the producer (Dinesh Vijan) nor the exhibitors gave up on the film and allowed it a show or two at premium multiplexes.
As a result, the collections have inched towards Rs 68.50 crore (Rs 685 million)*.
Of course, the Amar Kaushik film deserved an entry in the Rs 100 Crore Club, but then Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon and Abhishek Banerjee will take what has finally come their way.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
