The Clash of Mismatch’s - Dilwale vs Bajirao Mastani

                        

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.

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.