COOLIE NO 1 has emerged a big HIT on the satellite circuit as it sustains very well since release. It has seen the best results for Zee post the lockdown till date. RADHE had its premiere on Zee cinema just this week so results are not known yet. It premiered on Zee TV on Independence Day but the comparable ratings come on the cinema channel.

COOLIE NO 1 started with a 1 crore impressions premiere while the second screening was a solid 55 lakh. Since then it has averaged around 30 lakh impressions for its next five screenings. This makes its results post premiere on the lines of TANHAJI: THE UNSUNG WARRIOR and WAR (counting post pandemic releases). The only two films to perform better are LAXMII and BAAGHI 3.

The main competition for COOLIE NO 1 on Zee mainly comes from South films as the other Hindi releases like GUNJAN SAXENA, KHAALI PEELI and SAINA are far far behind finding a limited audience.

The best South film is VIJAY THE MASTER which is a dubbed version of the Tamil film MASTER. This opened at 70 lakh impressions and is averaging around 25 lakh post premiere. These are pretty good results but no comparison to another dubbed Tamil film DARBAR which debuted at 1.25 crore impressions and has seen repeats at over 50 lakhs. DARBAR has just edged out SAAHO as the top film released on satellite post the pandemic from the South. But at the box office DARBAR and VIJAY THE MASTER were nothing compared to SAAHO in Hindi circuits.

The box office in Hindi circuits has been a disaster since cinemas opened in October 2020. Major films have avoided the ticket counter as maskers believe the audience will not be there. The best we have seen post Coronavirus is 4 crore nett of SURAJ PE MANGAL BHARI.

This was actually the first new releases when cinemas reopened in October. SURAJ PE MANGAL BHARI has slowly crept up to the 4 crore nett mark but it took ten weeks to get there. The next best is WONDER WOMAN 1984 with 3.37 crore nett and then with around 3 crore nett it is VIJAY THE MASTER (dubbed version of Tamil film MASTER) which is a big GROSSSER in Tamil Nadu crossing the 100 crore nett mark but had no takers in Hindi circuits.

VIJAY THE MASTER fetched over 15 crore for its rights but theatrically it was a token gesture release with satellite and digital being main reasons for the price and this 15 crore is being asked for satellite only. The Hindi version had a huge release in West Bengal of over 125 cinemas but it took the whole weekend to cross just 10 lakhs nett.

The Tamil version of MASTER did pretty well for a day or two in Mumbai city and some other centres of Maharashtra but that was about it and it also collected 3 crore nett. The all formats total in Hindi circuits was 6 crore nett nett apprx which makes it more than SURAJ PE MANGAL BHARI but like that WONDER WOMAN 1984 and TENET were even more. The only other films to get over 1 crore nett in Hindi are TENET and INDOO KI JAWANI.

The top ten grossers in hindi language post Covid are as follows and most of them are still running at places due to lack of new releases but collections are very limited.

The Tamil film MASTER due to release on 13th January has seen a huge demand for tickets across Tamil Nadu. The way plans are filling up, you would assume there is no pandemic and it seems that every ticket available will be sold by the time the film releases as demand outstrips supply due to 50% capacity restrictions. In reality this may not be the case as its near impossible to sell every ticket but its going to be pretty close which is phenomenal.

The advance is also super strong in Bengaluru and Hyderabad with the original Tamil version being super-strong in both cities and even the Telugu version getting a very strong advance in Hyderabad. The Tamil version has also seen a good response in some properties in Mumbai and Delhi. These are properties around educational institutes which probably have many students from Tamil Nadu. Still its the best advance these properties will have seen post the reopenng of cinemas.

The Hindi version of the film named VIJAY THE MASTER will see a release on the 14th January and here the advance is lacklustre which is expected. Still the film has a big release and there should be enough crowd on day one to ensure it is also the best opening in the Hindi belts post Coronavirus.

The box office is going to back for sure in a huge way in Tamil Nadu on the 13th and Andhra Pradesh has seen solid responses with a couple of films. While VIJAY THE MASTER should push the Hindi markets to higher levels it will still be a waiting game for one of the audience friendly biggies like SOORYAVANSHI or RADHE. The response to MASTER shows that cinema is cinema and irreplaceable where success can be felt (lets say initial success here) while all the OTT premieres come and go like a theatrical flop even if they find an audience.