'Udta Punjab' picks up in North India; fails to impress South

"Udta Punjab” has garnered a good response in North India owing to the controversy and hype surrounding its drug-theme, but has failed to click with the audience in South and Eastern region.

“The opening of the film was not that great but the film 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.

The Anurag Kashyap and Ekta Kapoor produced film grabbed eyeballs even before its release, after it got embroiled in a controversy over the numerous cuts suggested by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The battle between the makers and CBFC ended only after Bombay High Court cleared the film with just one cut. But matters went downhill again when the film was leaked online two days prior to its official release.

However, distributors feel the controversy is benefiting the movie. Distributor Akshay Rathi says, “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,” he added. Also, the film failed to pick up pace in single screen theatres.

“It (film) is not garnering much attention at single screen theatres. The opening has been around 50 per cent, its 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. Lets see how it performs,” Thadani said. While Rathi says, “The film has been released substantially well. We hope the film will sustain.”The Abhishek Chaubey-directed movie talks about the insurgence 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 opened in theatres yesterday and has collected Rs 10.05 crore in India till now.