Hate Story 3 has opened quite well, and how. The film was always expected to draw in good footfalls, courtesy the audience that the franchise has managed to build with success of its earlier installments – Hate Story and Hate Story 2. It was pretty much on the cards that the Vishal Pandya directed film would take an opening much better than Hate Story 2 which had released last year. However, to surpass the opening number of the Surveen Chawla starrer (5.26 crore) and go as far as 9.72 crore is truly tremendous.

Karan Singh Grover, Zareen Khan and Sharman Joshi in a still from 'Hate Story 3'
Karan Singh Grover, Zareen Khan and Sharman Joshi in a still from ‘Hate Story 3’

The lifetime business of Hate Story was 15 crore and that would be surpassed today. On the other hand the lifetime business of Hate Story 2 (28 crore) is expected to be crossed by Hate Story 3 in the first weekend itself. The franchise has managed to pull its audience in huge numbers and that has pleasantly surprised most in the trade and the industry. Moreover, the fact that the film has managed to bring in footfalls at multiplexes as well is all the more reason for the makers (T-Series) to celebrate as with this, the franchise would be pretty much taking a turn to a bigger scale in years to come.

As for its standing amidst the top opening of the year, Hate Story 3 is amongst the Top-15 of 2015 while standing at No. 13. Now that’s superb for a film that has been made on controlled costs with mostly newcomer Bollywood cast (Karan Singh Grover, Zareen Khan, Daisy Shah) and Sharman Joshi being the only one who has spend over a decade in the industry.

The film has gone past the opening day collections of bugger budgeted Drishyam (8 crore), Tanu Weds Manu Returns (8.75 crore) and Baby (9.33 crore) which pretty much tells the tale. Yes, the reviews have been mixed but then this is hardly a film that is dependent on what critics have to say about it. Unless the film falls over the weekend (which doesn’t appear to be the case), it would gain a Hit status post the weekend itself.

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder

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