There is a lot of confusion with the actual week 1 figures of Akshay Kumar’s Kambakht Ishq.
The distributors of the film, Eros International announced late Friday that the film has grossed Rs 100 crores worldwide, with 70 crores coming from India and the rest, about 30 crores from rest of the world.
Interestingly, according to one credible box office website, the first week nett gross from India is just 35 crores.
Here, for a reader who doesn’t understand box-office numbers and terms, its just so easy to get confused. Many are unaware of the difference between gross and nett figures. ‘Gross’ is the total collections of a film at the box-office before deducting taxes. While ‘nett figures’ are after taxes, i.e the ‘actual’ money a movie makes. From the above numbers, 70 crores is the gross and 35 crores is the nett. Hence after deducting taxes from the 70 crores gross, the nett gross is just about 42 crores.
Yet, there is a difference of 7 crores between the two sources. So either one has over-reported, or the other has under-reported. According to our sources and some calculations, the actual nett gross is somewhere in between. Most likely around 40 crores. Anyway, we’ll go with Eros’ numbers.
Verdict for the first week
Kambakht Ishq has exceeded expectations, the film is the third biggest opener of all times after Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It has also done well overseas and lead star Akshay Kumar, after 2 back-to-back disasters, is back with a bang.
Just some week 1 figures from Akshay’s last few releases (apart from Tasveer)
Singh Is King – 41 crores
Kambakht Ishq – 42 crores
Chandni Chowk To China – 25 crores
Welcome – 34 crores