'3 Idiots' grosses Rs.93 crore in opening weekend

Once again Aamir Khan has hit the jackpot. His comedy-drama '3 Idiots' has scorched screens worldwide and raked in around Rs.93 crore (Rs.930 million/$20 million) in its opening weekend.

Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller 'Five Point Someone', the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani.

Its box office collection has beaten the initial earnings of another Aamir starrer 'Ghajini', considered Hindi cinema's highest grosser till date, with 30 percent more earnings till Sunday night.

'Response has been overwhelming from all over the world. Aamir, Raju and I knew from the responses earlier on that people liked the film but this is something else... We have got reports from places like Australia that they have reduced 'Avatar' shows and increased ours,' said Chopra in a statement.

'3 Idiots' is the highest grossing Hindi film ever in Australia on its opening weekend. Similarly in the US, I have been given to understand that '3 Idiots' would be highest ever for a Hindi film,' he added.

Reliance BIG Entertainment, which is the distributor of '3 Idiots', released the movie Friday with about 2,000 prints across 40 countries. Made at a budget of about Rs.35 crore, the film criticises the glaring anomalies in the Indian education system.

The paid previews of the movie also garnered over Rs.9 crore worldwide, above those of the paid preview collections of 'Ghajini' that was Rs.7 crore globally.

It also stars R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Kareena Kapoor in pivotal roles.