BELLBOTTOM did pretty well on Sunday as it collected 4.50 crore nett. It was Raksha Bandhan and the markets that normally perform here like UP, MP and Rajasthan were fair and probably should have grown more but the good news came from Gujarat/Saurashtra as that market had very good collections on Sunday.

The film is not exactly catering to the Gujarat market but sill there was a large turnout in the circuit. There is the 50% cap rule and many cinemas shut but Gujarat/Saurashtra alone still collected around the 1 crore nett mark which is a fantastic number considering the present situation..

Obviously Raksha Bandhan helped in the state but for whatever reason the fact is people did come out in the state which is a good sign for the future. The Gujarat/Saurashtra numbers on Sunday was the biggest plus with the release of BELLBOTTOM and there was some smaller green shots in Delhi NCR as some properties recorded healthy numbers. Its a work in progress situation and can only improve as more films release.

The overall numbers of BELLBOTTOM at 13 crore nett for the weekend are low despite strong Sunday growth and lets see what happens post the weekend. If we take out the Gujarat business on Sunday then the main performance came in multiplexes of Delhi NCR which means that Mumbai city and Pune city were a huge miss for the film as the film would have also performed better there as against the Hindi belts.

The four day business of the film is as follows.

Thursday - 2,75,00,000 apprx

Friday - 2,75,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 4,50,00,000 apprx

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The best turnout post the pandemic has been seen in Gujarat with BELLBOTTOM as collections could be compared with the big films of 2020 before the pandemic. The whole Gujarat or Saurashtra belt cant be compared as the whole market is not open like before but a like for like comparison is good news for the industry as far as the audience coming back in Gujarat goes.

It was Raksha Bandhan which is big in Gujarat but if the audience comes on this day, then it will return in bigger numbers for better films and for films which cater more for the audience in Gujarat.

Below is a like for like comparison from the same cinemas between the Sunday of BELLBOTTOM and the first day of TANHAJI: THE UNSUNG WARRIOR and first day of BAAGHI 3 at Rajhans chain which dominate in Gujarat. BELLBOTTOM had a 50% cap on occupancy but there were more shows compared to BAAGHI 3 and TANHAJI: THE UNSUNG WARRIOR. BELLBOTTOM is post pandemic while the other two are pre pandmic. TANHAJI: THE UNSUNG WARRIOR did not open well in Gujarat but BAAGHI 3 opened very well.

3,94,232 (2D)

6,38,291 (3D)

19,79,360

12,70,687 (2D)

3,87,134 (3D)

Despite the low headline number the scenario is not as bad as it looks as far the audience coming back is concerned. It will be a process like last week Punjab saw good turnout with PUAADA this week Gujarat has seen a big turnout on Sunday with BELLBOTTOM even with a product that is not really for them. If SOORYAVANSHI was there yesterday without a 50% cap rule, you can take 35 lakh nett collections from the above properties as a worst case scenario. BELLBOTTOM in this chain has done more on one day than films like CHHAPAAK and THAPPAD did over the whole first week. This one may not be best comparison as those were bad films with smaller casts but its pre pandemic and post pandemic and one day v seven days and on top BELLBOTTOM reports are not much.

Other areas will also start to see audiences return in a big way when market conditions allow and the content is correct for them. BELLBOTTOM got the benefit of PUAADA releasing a week before as its collections would have been far less if BELLBOTTOM released last week. Just like a future film will  in Gujarat will get the benefit of a BELLBOTTOM release as the market will perform a little better now. Hopefully there will be more positives like in the remaining months of this year.