Cash registers ringing

“It’s a super hit!” That’s the verdict of the trade circle about The Dirty Picture, which released on Friday. Said to have cost producer Ekta Kapoor under R 20 crore, the Milan Luthria film has made money for everyone associated — right from Anil Thadani who acquired the distribution rights for about R 22 crore to the other distributors he sold it to, across the country. Overseas also, the movie has improved Vidya Balan’s star status.

Christening the film, “The Lovely Picture,” Komal Nahta, trade expert and editor of koimi.com says, “The Hindi version has netted R 29.75 crore while the Tamil-Telugu versions have made Rs 1.6 crore. Even on Monday, the morning and afternoon shows in many theatres were full.” Concluding that he sees the film netting R 60 crore, he says, “That means distributors’ share of R 30 crore from India alone.”

In the same vein, Amod Mehra, another trade veteran, attributes the movie’ success to the promotions that connected with the audience immediately. “The music has worked well. And the content was strong,” he observes, pointing out that had the content been just sleazy without a sound story, then it wouldn’t have worked.

If one thought the movie would not have clicked so well in the northern and eastern parts of the country, because of the inspiration from South siren Silk Smitha, it’d be wrong. Delhi-based distributor Sanjay

Ghai of Mukta Arts Ltd says that the film delivered more than their expectations. “I thought it would net about R 23 crore in the first three days, but about R 30 crore is mind-blowing,” he says, raving about Vidya’s performance as Silk. “A movie can’t work so well just on the masses, but needs the gentry and the youth to come in to watch it too. Despite the ‘A’ rating, the film has done fabulously.”

Aditya Choksi of Indore-based Akshar Enterprises shares Ghai’s opinion. He had expected the movie to do well in Central India, as he says, “I had faith in director Milan Luthria, the shock value of his subject and the correct promotion. When a film holds strong on Monday, it proves that content and right marketing are king. The first three days’ numbers of this film are more than Rockstar and Desi Boyz.”

On Tuesday too, the trade gurus are expecting the film to continue its good run, due to Muharram being a bank holiday. As Manoj Desai, Executive Director of Maratha Mandir and G7 Cineplex tells us, “Non-Muslim audience will come in to see the film that is already getting its repeat audience. People are enjoying the film and applauding often for many scenes and dialogue. And not to forget Vidya Balan, for the bold way in which she’s portrayed the part of Silk.”

Mehra is certain the film will continue to do well in its second weekend too, never mind Yashraj’s Ladies VS Ricky Bahl with Ranveer Singh and Anuska Sharma releasing this Friday. “Ladies VS Ricky Bahl is not looking great. So whatever numbers The Dirty Picture does in its second weekend is additional bonus. It’s already done enough numbers to be a super hit,” he concludes.

Hiren Kotwani

Midday