Udta Punjab has done well at the Box Office. What has really gone in favor of the film is the word of mouth amongst the target audience. The Abhishek Chaubey film was anyways meant for the niche audience and the fact that it has managed to penetrate even beyond that has been a reason to smile for all involved. In fact for the director there is a lot to smile as in the opening weekend itself, Udta Punjab has now gone past the lifetime collections of Ishqiya [23 crore] and Dedh Ishqiya [28 crore]. Superb indeed!
Moreover, for Shahid Kapoor too these are the best weekend numbers of his 13 year career. This is how his recent films have scored:
Udta Punjab – 33.80 crore
R… Rajkumar – 30.7 crore
Shaandaar – 27.4 crore (first 3 days, since it released on Thursday)
Phata Poster Nikhla Hero – 21.25 crore
Haider – 19.45 crore (first 3 days, since it released on Thursday)
While all eyes are on Udta Punjab, Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak is unfortunately going unnoticed. Though the reviews are good, all the buzz and hype surrounding Udta Punjab means that the film has a tough journey ahead.
Housefull 3 continues its success run and brought in 3.02 crore more in its third weekend and currently stands at 106.22 crore.
Te3n has completely crashed with just 1 crore* more coming in. The film has collected 17.3 crore so far and would now fold up around the 18 crore mark. Flop.
Note: All collections as per production and distributor sources
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder