SITAARE ZAMEEN PAR IS A HIT; WILL MAA, KANNAPPA, F1: THE MOVIE FOLLOW SUIT?

The industry is celebrating as Sitaare Zameen Par has emerged as a big hit. The mood of the industry was sombre on Friday morning as the advance wasn’t satisfactory. The distributors didn’t have any show before 11:00 am as they feared that the morning shows might get cancelled. However, the word of mouth from the press was positive. By evening, it picked up.

As per expectations, it collected Rs. 10.50 crores on Friday. On Saturday, it saw a nearly 100% jump as it earned Rs. 20 crores. This is rare in the post-pandemic era. Also, if a film sees such a dramatic jump on Day 2, the Day 3 jump is minimal. But Sitaare Zameen Par went on and collected Rs. 26.25 crores on Sunday. Thus, it earned Rs. 56.75 crores in 3 days.

On Monday, it dropped to Rs. 8.50 crores which was normal. On Tuesday, it collected the same amount which is another sign that the film is set for a long run. The first week collections will be in the range of Rs. 85-90 crores. It’ll surely jump in the second week and will also surely cross the Rs. 150 crore mark.

Meanwhile, the big release of the week is Maa, starring Kajol in the lead. It is a horror film and there’s a hint that it is connected to the Shaitaan universe. It grabbed attention but the excitement is minimal. Like Sitaare Zameen Par, there seems to be a wait-and-watch strategy for it as well. Unfortunately, the success of Sitaare Zameen Par can affect Maa to some degree. But if Maa’s reports are strong, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Maa will open at Rs. 3-4 crores and then it depends on the weekend jump and strong Monday to help the film achieve success.

As for Kannappa, it stars Akshay Kumar, Prabhas, Mohanlal and others in cameos while the lead role is played by Vishnu Manchu. The subject is enticing but the excitement in Hindi is very limited. It has even got very few shows in the North market. If public reports are positive, it’ll see an increase in shows as it happened with Karthikeya 2, Marco etc.

F1: The Movie, on the other hand, will appeal to the elite audience. There’s a demand to view the film on the big screen, especially IMAX. The reports are strong and hence, it can open at Rs. 3-4 crores, just like Maa.