Big B's Ganga going strong in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan's first Bhojpuri film Gangais doing wonders at the box-office. Despite two big films - Don and Jaan-E-Mann – pitted against it, Gangahas swept against the tide.

Nandi Cinema in Bandra witnessed an uncontrollable crowd. The single screen cinema, which has 998 seats, is one of the oldest theatres in Mumbai. Since years the cinema witnessed dubbed, C-grade movies and repeat runs being screened.

Suddenly this Diwali and Eid, Nandi Cinema broke records with many shows registering houseful shows. Per show capacity of the cinema hall is Rs 12,909 and tickets are priced as low as Rs 25, 30 and 35.

Sheikh, the manager of Nandi Cinema says, "Gangahas proved to be a blessing in disguise. In my capacity as the manager since last six-seven, we have never seen our collections crossing Rs 100,000. But Gangahas erased it by collecting 98 per cent; viz; Rs 354,998 against the capacity of Rs 361,452. The last scoring factor at the box-office was another Bhojpuri film Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, which recorded Rs 251,000."

"This time the crowd went berserk. We had to call in the cops to control the crowd. In the weekend shows, though we had put houseful boards, people were willing to sit on the floors and watch the movie," he adds.

Gangais produced by Big B's personal make-up man Deepak Sawant. The film co-stars Hema Malini, Manoj Tiwari 'Mridul', Ravi Kissen and Nagma