Dangal off to a promising start

Made at a budget of Rs 75 crore, the film needs to make Rs 150 crore to break even and book profits, reports Urvi Malvania.

Disney India's latest release Dangal has clocked Rs 29.8 crore (Rs 298 million) on opening in India, thanks to the Christmas weekend.

The film, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, is the story of wrestlers Geeta and Babita Phogat (played by Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh) and their relationship with their father, also a wrestler, Mahavir Singh Phogat (played by Aamir Khan).

Dangal was released across 4,300 screens in India on Friday, followed by its overseas release in the US, Gulf and the UK on Wednesday.

The opening trend in India is in line with the global one, as it collected close to a million dollars from the UK, the US and Gulf market on its opening day.

Occupancy rates on Friday were healthy and collections are expected to jump by 25% to 30% on Saturday, and sustain the growth on Sunday.

By trade estimates, the film should cross Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in the first three days, in India only.

The western territories of Maharashtra and Gujarat contributed as expected to the collections.

In addition, the Bihar and heartland belt saw traction, too, while the South Indian dubs contributed nearly Rs 60 lakh (Rs 6 million) in collection.

The film was released in Hindi with Tamil and Telugu dubs (nearly 250 screens).

Made at a budget of Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million), the film needs to make Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) to break even and book profits.

Given the opening trend, this should be achieved in the first week itself.

Trade experts say the collections would sustain in the upcoming weeks, with the next weekend being the New Year’s eve.

Estimates peg the effect of demonetisation has played a role, but not to the extent as it was feared.

Trade pundits put the collection impact of demonetisation at around 10% (which translates to a loss in the collection to Rs 3 crore/Rs 30 million).

The film has made close to $4 million overseas so far in the first two days and hopes to continue its healthy run over the festive weekend.

While it opened well in the traditional Bollywood territories -- North America, the UK and the UAE -- it went on to become the best Hindi film opener in Australia garnering $181,000.

Dangal is currently the second highest opener of 2016, after Salman Khan's Sultan (Rs 36.54 crore/Rs 365.4 million), which released during Eid.

It is also the second best opening for an Aamir Khan film, the best being Dhoom 3 which released in 2013 and fetched Rs 36 crore (Rs 360 million).

Interestingly, the top three openers this year, Sultan, Dangal and Fox Star Studios' MS Dhoni - The Untold Story are either based on sportspersons or have sports at its centre.