Box office: 'The Jungle Book' overshadows three new Hindi releases

Last Friday's all three releases, 'Laal Rang', 'Nil Battey Sannata' and 'Santa Banta Pvt Ltd' failed to lure audiences to theatres and opened poorly at the box office.

A still from 'Laal Rang'

Says a well-placed source in the trade, "Randeep Hooda starrer 'Laal Rang' collected Rs 40 lakh on its opening day, Rs 45 lakh on Saturday and Rs 40 lakh on Sunday taking the total to Rs 1.25 crore. While on the other hand, Swara Bhaskar starrer 'Nil Battey Sanatta' opened poorly but picked up on Saturday and Sunday owing to the good worth-of-mouth buzz. The film minted Rs 25 lakh on Friday, Rs 60 lakh on Saturday and Rs 75 lakh on Sunday taking the total opening weekend collections to Rs 1.60 crore."

"The collections of SRK's 'Fan' plummeted in the second week. It has collected Rs 79.25 crore till now," adds the source. Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, "Of all the films this week, only 'The Jungle Book' recorded above average collections. It is now set to surpass this year's biggest hit Airlift's collections. 'Fan', on the other hand, crashed from last Monday onwards and managed to maintain just about average collections. As far as the new releases are concerned, none of them made an impact. Only 'Nil Battey Sannata' got some critical acclaim."

Trade pundit Taran Adarsh adds, "'The Jungle Book' remains unstoppable and unbeatable even in its third week. The film saw a steady growth while on the other hand 'Fan' declined subsequently."