HAQ collected 9 crore nett apprx over its first weekend which is on the lower side. The film had a good jump on Saturday but could not push further on Sunday with a limited jump. The growth was just a little over 10% while last week's THE TAJ STORY jumped over 30%. This makes a big difference to the box office result of a film.

Nowadays the Saturday growth is forthcoming for most films and here for HAQ, it was a solid 80%. Yet, even with this growth, the business on Sunday struggled. It was not that the Sunday growth was bad but when you have low numbers then you have to do better. If the film had opened better then you can afford to have the normal Sunday trajectory. It remains to be seen where Monday comes out but with this Sunday number, its unlikely the Monday will be similar to Friday.

The collections of HAQ for the first two days are as follows.

Friday - 1,85,00,000

Saturday - 3,35,00,000

Sunday - 3,75,00,000 apprx 

 

THE TAJ STORY did well in its second weekend collecting around 4 crore nett and taking its overall total in ten days to 15 crore nett apprx. These numbers are decent for the budget of the film and its managed to sustain collections well although the second weekend could have been better considering the strong weekday trend. The film should do around 20 crore nett which is a fair result for the low budget courtroom drama. 

The collections of THE TAJ STORY are as follows.

Friday - 75,00,000 apprx 

Saturday - 1,50,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 1,75,00,000 apprx

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HAQ collected 1-1.10 crore nett on its first Monday which is a drop of around 40% from the first day and this will not be good enough. The film showed encouraging signs on Saturday but then, the writing was on wall on Sunday.

These sort of content films have to have a Monday which is around the day one mark unless they somehow manage to open well which was not the case here. The film stands at a little over 10 crore nett and its likely the lifetime will end up lower than last week's THE TAJ STORY

HAQ saw huge media support while the THE TAJ STORY practically zero. But the audience does not care and will go where they want to to. Although the industry may not see it, this way its actually very good for cinema and should lead to the right films being made eventually if the industry wants to survive.

The collections of HAQ for the first four days are as follows.

Friday - 1,85,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 3,35,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,75,00,000 apprx

Monday - 1,10,00,000 apprx

HAQ jumped well on Saturday as it collected over 3.25 crore nett showing growth of around 80% from the previous day. This was a must for the film as day one numbers were low. The two day numbers are around 5.25 crore nett which means a lot of work to do. The next two days are crucial and will tell if the film is to get some sort of run or not.

Last week THE TAJ STORY jumped 35% on Sunday and HAQ needs to do something similar as normal Sunday growth will probably not be good enough.

The collections of HAQ for the first two days are as follows.

Friday - 1,85,00,000

Saturday - 3,35,00,000

THE TAJ STORY continued its good run doubling up on Saturday with business over 1.50 crore nett. Although the film is about the Taj Mahal where you would expect the Delhi / UP market to be best it is Mumbai circuit which is by far the best circuit contributing 45% of the collections. Pune and Thane are very good and so is Gujarat.

THE TAJ STORY maintained well collecting 75-80 lakhs nett on its second Friday. There is a 20% drop from last Friday which is a good hold although you would like to see the same collections as last Friday. That was unlikely as Thursday had already dropped below that number and Friday would see the release of HAQ which is competing for that same multiplex audience. The film has collected around 11.75 crore nett in eight days so far.

HAQ collected 1.85 crore nett on its first day which is low but it did pick up in the evening and night shows and it goes well for Saturday growth. The film did not look like getting to this number in the afternoon as the trend suggested around 1.50 crore nett at that time. The film is going to depend on the main metros with Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore showing best returns on he first day.

The last Emraan Hashmi film, GROUND ZERO, had collected 1.15 crore nett only. So, the film is far better than that and the potential for growth is also much more than that film. Since the film has better collections in metros, the Saturday jump will be there but what made the difference to a film like THE TAJ STORY was that it got a huge jump on Sunday as well as Saturday. Sunday in a way is even more crucial than Saturday today as very few films push higher on Sunday on the first weekend of release.

The main new release, HAQ, opened to low response at the box office which was expected as its a Saturday type of film and it has to show a strong number on day two. The opening makes it difficult but it will have to double up at the very least. The trailer hardly offered much for the initial audience and there was no music either.

The opening is better than THE TAJ STORY but that film was much less costly than HAQ. The latter is a bigger film and needs much better collections than THE TAJ STORY but the gap between them is not good enough.

THE TAJ STORY has held up well over the first week as it recorded business of 10.85 crore nett. The film has a found an audience, albeit limited, but its a film that can do 20 crore nett from a 1 crore nett day one which is a good enough.

There was also an Assamese film, ROI ROI BINALE, which ran riot wherever released especially Assam. JAWAN and PATHAAN are the biggest films in Assam but this film will surpass both of them in 8-9 days. This film collected 11 crore nett plus in Assam while rest is over 2 crore nett for a first week total of around 13.50 crore nett.

The first week collections of THE TAJ STORY are as follows.

Friday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 1,35,00,000 apprx 

Wednesday - 1,35,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 90,00,000 apprx

THE TAJ STORY continues to surprise as collections held up strong on its first Wednesday as they were considerably higher than the Monday. The film has collected 10 crore nett so far in six days and and is looking at 11 crore nett first week which is very good considering the first day start of just 1 crore nett.

The target will be to hit a similar second Friday number to the first Friday which will set it up for a good second week. It was a holiday for Guru Nanak Jayanti on Wednesday which would have helped collections as generally the numbers were up for all films. It is not a national holiday but there will be many states getting benefit of the holiday especially in the North.

The film will see competition with HAQ this week which is probably targeting a similar type of audiences as THE TAJ STORY  in the multiplexes. Although the opening will not be huge or anything, the audience can get shared and neither films have that wide mass audience. A 20 crore nett number looks a good chance for the film as long as Friday can hold collections.

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

Friday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 1,35,00,000 apprx 

Wednesday - 1,35,00,000 apprx

THE TAJ STORY showed a good hold hold on Monday collecting in the same range as Friday with collections of 1 crore nett. This takes the total collections of the film to 7.25 crore nett and with the discounted Tuesday to come to give a lift, it should be standing at 10 crore nett plus by the end of the week.

The film has found an audience as most would have expected this to be out by now but now the test becomes the second Friday and if it maintains there then this film could actually do 20 crore nett. There are some releases on Friday with HAQ being the main film but this should not come in the way of THE TAJ STORY holding its collections. The film could beat the collections of films like MAALIK and DHADAK 2 while it is sure to cross EMERGENCY. All are far bigger films.

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

Friday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 3,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 1,00,00,000 apprx

BAAHUBALI: THE EPIC (Hindi) faded on Monday which was expected as Saturday and Sunday could not perform. The collections of the film were under 50 lakhs nett on Monday which takes the film to around 4.25 crore nett and the week can be a little over 5 crore nett. The film has also fallen in the South with the all India collections in the 1.50 crore nett. The total collections on all versions stand at 23.50 crore nett and it might close around the 30 crore nett mark.

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

Monday - 35,00,000 apprx

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