Box Office collection: Despite leak, Udta Punjab becomes fifth biggest opener

Amid reports of online leak, Udta Punjab managed to mint Rs 10.05 crore rupees on its opening day to become fifth biggest opener of 2016.

“The film took an opening of 10.05 crore. In fact, the best collections came from the nothern regions of India, Delhi and Punjab mainly,” said a statement from the producers.

Caught in a row with the CBFC over censorship, the movie, however, had a slow start in the south and eastern region.

“The opening of the film was not that great but it picked up during the day. It’s a mixed response. The film is doing decent in the north belt especially in Delhi while in Rajasthan, Gujarat and in the Eastern belt the response is weak,” Rajesh Thadani, film distributor told PTI.

Distributors feel the controversy has helped pulling audience to theatres.

“The controversy has somewhere helped in drawing attention towards the film. The response in multiplexes is good. The response in Delhi NCR is encouraging while the film did fairly ok in Punjab as well. But in South and Eastern side the response was not that good,” distributor Akshay Rathi said.

The Anurag Kashyap and Ekta Kapoor-produced film was finally cleared for release with an ‘A’ certificate by the Bombay High Court.

The film failed to pick up pace in single screen theatres.

“It is not garnering much attention at single screen theatres. The opening has been around 50 per cent, it’s a let down,” Manoj Desai, Executive Director of Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir Cinema, said.

Both Thadani and Rathi feel today is the most crucial day for “Udta Punjab”.

“The film has two weeks time before “Sultan” releases.  Let’s see how it performs,” Thadani said. While Rathi said, “The film has been released substantially well. We hope the film will sustain.”

The movie has picked up in Delhi region and is expected to do well on Sunday.

“The film had a slow start but picked up in the afternoon and evening shows. In fact, by the end of first day it had an occupancy of 75-80 per cent. The controversy has definitely helped the movie but we are confident it will sustain as its content is strong,” said Thomas D’Souza, Head-Programming, PVR Cinemas, Delhi.

The Abhishek Chaubey-directed movie talks about the issue of substance abuse in the state of Punjab through the stories of a high-on-drugs rock star (Shahid Kapoor), a migrant (Alia Bhatt), a doctor (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and a policeman (Diljit Dosanjh).

The film has received rave reviews from critics and people from within the industry.