The two new releases this week were BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC and THE TAJ STORY and both saw fair collections. BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC is an amalgamation of both the BAAHUBALI films. So, its difficult to place as nothing of this sort has happened before. It can be called a repeat run but in a way it is not actually a repeat run. The collections in Hindi for the film will be in the 1.1-1.2 crore nett which is fair as both films (Part 1 and Part 2) have been seen by the audience.

The film is much better in the South driven by the Telugu version. The all India collections of the film should land at around 8.25-8.50 crore nett which is a huge number for a film which has been viewed by a vast audience. The run of the film in Hindi depends on the growth over the weekend.

THE TAJ STORY also has fair collections of around 1.10 crore nett with a release of around 800 screens which is far less than BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC. The film does not have much face value and limited promotion but still the film has managed to put up a 1 crore nett plus figure. Again its about the weekend but the film has given itself a chance with this opening day number.

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THE TAJ STORY has shown an excellent trend over the weekend though collections are low due to the initial but the trend gives it a chance to cover ground. The film showed a very strong jump on Saturday but then consolidated this very well with another big jump on Sunday. The Sunday is always tougher for these type of films and on top here there were two big cricket matches but still the film went up 35% on Sunday.

The smaller content films have struggled this year with not one showing any signs of even having a chance at the box office and with ten months gone this is the first one to have a chance at the box office. There is a long way to go but the weekend trend gives the film a chance for Monday to hold at Friday levels and if this happens the film will have a good run.

The film has needed no media/review support (fake or real) and hardly any promotion but it has managed to find its audience on Saturday and Sunday as those who have seen have probably liked it. For the record it is a 6.25 crore nett first weekend and the film has chances to be over 10 crore nett in the first week which will be decent. Then, the second week collections can actually be good but that depends on how the weekdays fare.

The collections of the THE TAJ STORY the weekend are as follows.

Friday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC (Hindi) could not do well with collections of 4 crore nett and this film was also about Saturday but the growth did not come and Sunday was not much better. The results are better in the South driven by the Telugu version as the weekend stands at 22 crore nett apprx in all languages. 

No doubt it still remains hands down the greatest film of the last two decades but to be among the legendary greats like MUGHAL-E-AZAM (1960), SHOLAY (1975) and GADAR (2001) in terms of longevity you need dialogues which go from one generation to the next and being a dubbed film that is probably not here. It is the most impactful cinema ever seen in India coming from outside the Hindi film industry with PUSHPA and CHANDRALEKHA from the 1940's fighting out at second spot. However, the latter will hardly be known today due to that lack of memorable music or dialogues though it was the BAAHUBALI of its time. 

The collections of BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC (Hindi) are as follows.

Friday - 1,10,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 1,35,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 1,50,00,000 apprx