Taapsee Pannu starrer Nam Shabana, a spy thriller, sailed smoothly through the weekend earning 18.76 crore. The film added Rs 2.54 crore on Monday, which was a very decent fall for Naam Shabana. The film added more moolah to its kitty on Tuesday, adding Rs 2.50 crore taking the 5 day total to Rs 23.80 crore.
The film performed better than some recent releases. Plexes of major centres fared well but the film was relatively weak in single screen theatres. The film was also released in Tamil and Telugu.
Directed by Shivam Nair, Naam Shabana, is a spin-off and prequel of the 2015 film 'Baby', with Taapsee reprising her role as Shabana Khan. Akshay Kumar increases the business value of the film with his hard-hitting cameo in the film. Naam Shabana brings many key players from the cast of 'Baby' including Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Danny Denzongpa along with new entrants Manoj Bajpayee and Prithviraj Sukumaran. The film is produced by Neeraj Pandey and Shital Bhatia under Friday Filmworks banner. The music of the film was given by Purab Kohli and Meet Bros.
Naam Shabana took a decent start on Friday, collecting Rs 5.12 crore. The morning shows were dull but the film gathered momentum in the evening shows. The film witnessed a good growth of 24.41 per cent on Saturday, collecting Rs 6.37 crore. These are very good numbers considering the low budget of the movie and the average to negative reviews it received. The word of mouth was, however, good for the film and it continued to show growth and collected Rs 7.27 crore on Sunday, taking the 3-day total to Rs 18.76 crore.
As Naam Shabana performed well on weekend, its weekday footfalls were eagerly waited and looking at the collection it can be safely said that the movie passed the test. Naam Shabana added Rs 2.54 crore on Monday and Rs 2.50 crore on Tuesday. The film now stands at Rs 23.80 crore, and next few days will be essential for the film.
Naam Shabana might bring in good numbers in the second weekend as no big film is releasing this Friday. If the exhibitors gain confidence in the movie, they might not cut Naam Shabana's screen count for the coming weekend. Bahubali is re-releasing this weekend and it might come up with a surprise with the screen count.
Akshay Kumar's presence definitely helped the film gain very good buzz before its release. The film was promoted moderately and the final budget of the film stands at Rs 25 crore. The producers of the film must be in a safe state considering the numbers Naam Shabana has pulled through the weekend; however, weekdays will be crucial for the fate of the film.
Looking at the early Monday trend, the film is expected to see a huge fall and the collections may go down to Rs 2-2.5 crore. The film is rated 6.8 on IMDb with over 900 votes so far.
For a film of this genre, Naam Shabana is doing fairly good trade and we must wait for the coming weekend results, before giving a final verdict on the fate of the movie.