[1]It’s been a good Friday for the latest release at the box office, Madras Cafe. The John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri starrer lived up to what was predicted for it — it had an ordinary opening with the morning shows, got a big push due to the positive reviews and word-of-mouth publicity and eventually ended up having a very good collection on Friday.
With the multiplex audiences giving the film a nod of approval, the weekend saw some healthy numbers added to the total, hence resulting in earnings of around `20 crore*. These are good numbers for the film and also the highest that a solo John Abraham project has ever taken.
The film has worked in more ways than one for all involved. Firstly, a new genre has opened up with Madras Cafe because realistic films with a good entertainment quotient are seldom made in India. Secondly, with his third successive quality outing (after Yahaan and Vicky Donor), Shoojit Sircar has demonstrated that he is a director par excellence. Thirdly, after being in the industry for a decade, John has now earned added credibility as an actor and also, as a producer. All these factors have been acknowledged by the industry.
The film has not yet won the game though as the weekday collections will now decide Madras Cafe’s ultimate direction. Moreover, Prakash Jha’s multi-starrer Satyagraha arrives this coming weekend and will take away a majority of the screens. However, Madras Cafe is the kind of film that deserves to stay around. Considering the fact that last year, Vicky Donor and this year, Aashiqui 2 remained in the theatres for weeks despite competition, the strategy exhibitors use for Madras Cafe should be interesting.
* At time of going to press
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/t6jpg-805