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The film will take a slow opening at the box office, much slower when compared to the opening of many of Ajay Devgan's other recent films (opening day collection will be about half of the opening day of Ajay's last release ACTION JACKSON). What DRISHYAM seems to have in it's favor is content.
(I got the following information from Wikipedia): The film is a remake of a Malayalam film with the same name, and the Malayalam film went on to become the highest grossing film in the history of Malayalam cinema (collections from India and Overseas). That's not all!The Malayalam film achieved other things as well:
- first Malayalam film to collect 50 crores from its theatrical box office collections, remake rights, satellite and television rights within two months
- completed more than 20,000 shows in Kerala within a run of 100 days
- ran more than 150 days in theatres
-Kerala State Film Award for Best Popular Film.
-Filmfare Award for Best Film-Malayalam
- selected in the Indian Panorama at the 45th International Film Festival of India Represented India and screened at the 8th Asian Film Festival held in Jeddah in 2015
As I said, this Ajay Devgan starrer has content in its favor. A film starring two actors who many consider to be powerhouse actors (Ajay Devgan and Tabu, both considered by many to be amongst the best actors in India), a remake of a highly appreciated film, a director (Nishikanth Kamath) who has a very impressive resume (including directing LAI BHAARI which went on to become the highest grossing Marathi film of all time, directing the award-winning MUMBAI MERI JAAN, etc), and excellent pre-release reports are all factors that ensure DRISHYAM will find it's way into the hearts of the audience! The film will start slowly at the box office, but it will then go on to be a box office success when the positive WOM (Word of Mouth) starts spreading by the audience who watches the film.
Salman Khan's BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN is on a historic run at the box office, as that film has received extra-ordinary public appreciation (Word of Mouth). This has caused Ajay Devgan's DRISHYAM to not get as many screens as they could have otherwise, but this shouldn't be a problem eventually when the positive WOM makes DRISHYAM grow into a box office success. I have read that the cost to make the film is 42 crores, which I'm sure the film will be able to recover and make profits as well.
Ajay Devgan's DRISHYAM is sort of like Aamir Khan's TALAASH in the sense that both film have A-list actors in a niche dark thriller type of film. TALAASH did receive appreciation from people even though its box office collections were not huge given the limited appeal of the film (the film finished with lifetime collections in the 90 crore range). DRISHYAM will also be an appreciated film with limited appeal, and given that Ajay is not a big a star as Aamir, the lifetime collections will be lower than TALAASH, but it won't matter as the lifetime collections of DRISHYAM will still probably be enough for it be a box office success. DRISHYAM won't do 100 crores lifetime collections that many Ajay Devgan masala films have done, but the film will still do well commercially and critically, and will gain back Ajay's reputation after being a part of some films recently that were criticized severely by majority of the people (films such as HIMMATWALA and ACTION JACKSON).
At the box office this year, BABY (was successful at the box office to an extent), BADLAPUR, DUM LAGA KE HAISHA, NH10, GABBAR IS BACK, PIKU, TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS, and the biggest Blockbuster so far this year BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN, all of these films succeeded at the box office due to strong WOM and content that was appreciated by the public. Now, DRISHYAM will be added to this list!
My Box Office Predictions for DRISHYAM:
Opening Day: 6 crores
Opening Weekend: 25+ crores
Lifetime Collections: 70 crores
Overall Box Office Verdict: Hit
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