~~**Dilwale Review/Box office thrd**~~ #3 - Page 31

Dilwale has taken the third best opening Worldwide this year of 145-150 crore. The figures are behind Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo bot of which had big holidays in the opening weekend. Bajirao Mastani has recorded the fifth best Worldwide figures of the year at 85-90 crore. It is Welcome Back that separates the two films. The top five Worldwide opening weekends of 2015 are as follows.

1. Bajrangi Bhaijaan - 187 crore

2. Prem Ratan Dhan Payo - 185 crore

3. Dilwale - 145-150 crore

4. Welcome Back - 90 crore

5. Bajirao Mastaani - 85-90 crore

No film has ever grossed 200 crore Worldwide in the opening weekend but together Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani have easily crossed the 200 crore mark with the combined total to be 230 crore on a worst case scenario.

Dilwale had a strong Sunday growing around 15-20% to gross around 23 crore nett. the figure could be come out a little higher as some cities in Gujarat have shown big gains and if this is the case with all the states then the figure could go higher.

The disruptions that the film faced in various regions over the first two days due to political issues were less on Sunday. The weekend of the film will be around 64 crore nett which is good total as it was a non holiday weekend and the screenings were around 40% less than what a big film like this world normally get. Some circuits have under performed due to less screens especially Delhi /UP but generally most circuits are good with some having excellent weekend business.

Bajirao Mastaani also showed 15-20% growth on Sunday as its business will be in the range of 17.50 crore nett. The weekend will be around 45 crore nett which is actually a good number if looked at it from the face value point of view but low for the costs involved. It really needed a higher start or the growth on Saturday and Sunday to be higher.

Bajirao Mastani fared very well in Maharashtra and Mysore, fair in other parts with West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and Orissa being poor. The film also had a Telugu and Tamil version which fared very poorly and grossed around 75 lakhs nett over the weekend.