Ghajini Box office Report

The box office Tsunami – Hurricane – Cyclone, call it what you want to, has arrived and has sucked the entire nation into Multiplexes and single screens from every nook and corner of the vast country. Clearly, something like this has never been witnessed before and most certainly will not be witnessed in the near future. Unless of course, Akshay Kumar’s Chandni Chowk To China manages to garner the same amount of hype.

If you compare it to the other releases this year, most pale in comparison. The hype and curiosity is 2 – 3 times higher than the next biggest release of the year. As spoken about before, with such hype comes huge expectations and Ghajini has certainly lived upto all the expectations. The reviews from most critics that matter has been varying from good to excellent. The initial few who have managed to watched the movie during the paid preview shows have given their verdict – two thumbs up – to Ghajini.

While many feel Ghajini is not upto the usual high standards set by previous Aamir Khan films like Rang De Basanti and Taare Zameen Par, one must not forget that Ghajini is a hardcore masala pot boiler, something that Bollywood is quite famous and known for. Aamir has proved that he isnt purely the King of classy intellectual films but can easily carry off mass entertainers like Shahrukh, Akshay and Hrithik do.

Now lets end the talk or lecture as some in the comments section call it, and let the numbers do the talking.

• The paid previews on Wednesday generated 7 crores, something completely unheard of.
• Day 1 collections worldwide on Christmas i.e 25th December – 33 crores (gross)! Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi managed about 18 crores worldwide on Day 1.
• Day 1 collections in India is around 10 crores (nett gross) while Rab Ne.. managed 7 crores.
• Ghajini is expected do somewhere between 38 – 40 crores in its intial weekend. SRK’s Rab Ne did 25 crores.
• The full 7 day week nett gross of Rab Ne was 44 crores, Singh Is King was 43 crores and Golmaal Returns was 38 crores. Ghajini is expected, if it sustains on Monday, to hit 65 crores in its extended first week (8 days).
• The percentage of occupany, which is very close to 100%, can only be compared to the 2001 blockbuster Gadar – Ek Prem Katha. While Gadar released on 290 screens, Ghajini has released on 1100 screens!!!
• The overall Nett gross in India could touch 100 crores for the first time. Om Shanti Om (2007) with 86 crores and Dhoom 2 (2006) with 85 crores occupy the first and second spot currently.

On the other hand, unfortunately, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which was enjoying a decent run at the Indian boxoffice in its 2nd week, has been badly affected by the Ghajini storm. Will Rab Ne pick up after the Ghajini intial remains to be seen.

All in all, Its Aamir Khan all the way at the box office during the last week of the year!