B-Town experienced interesting scenarios last weekend as
release date clashes resurfaced, this time the Sanjay Bhansali produced “Bajirao
Mastani” took on the Rohit Shetty-SRK star-powered “Dilwale”. Though the cast
lines showed clear inclination towards Dilwale, speculations were abuzz as the
D-Friday drew nearer.
While Bajirao Mastani was a retro-classical drama based on
the epic love story of guerrilla fighter tribe leader Bajirao and princess
Mastani Bai, Dilwale was a family entertainer that also marked return of the
famed SRK-Kajol romantic pair on the silver screen. Clearly both the movies had
nothing in between to clash box-office collections except for the interestingly
common release dates.
First day collections saw a clear inclinations towards
Dilwale, as expected, but amidst all the din was hidden the mysterious screen
division. While it was expected for superstar SRK starer Dilwale to have a
greater screen hold, however, in actuality it was Bajirao Mastani that ruled
screen counts, more so in the Single Screen theatres. The reason behind this
was a shrewd secret-deal made by the distributors Eros International during
prior rights distributions.
Protests across various sections by saffron brigades against
the controversial statements made by Shahrukh regarding rising intolerance in
the nation hit the occupancy rates further and coupled with the lower number of
screen counts, the family entertainer didn’t shoot-off as expected.
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| Trade analyst Reveal Bajirao's lead over Dilwale |
On the other hand Bajirao Mastani, riding on a better word
of mouth and a remarkably high screen count saw steady rise after an average
first day collections. But incredibly unpredictable scenes erupted when the
first Monday collections saw Bajirao turn tables with a marginal lead over
Dilwale. While many saw this as the increased inclination of bolly-viewers
towards meaningful plots, critics also interpreted as fall of SRK’s magic hold
on the silver screen.
All in all, the clash brought about epic scenes aboard the
B-town business times it also proved once and all that in the end it’s all
about the plot that matters more than just the casts. But then Clashes are
never good for any reason whatsoever, and ultimately it’s the B-town as the end-loser
as it made fewer collections than it should with two reasonably good plots,
both perfect mismatches to each other.
