Bollywood saw two releases this Friday, and thankfully the curb on Hindi film collections have gone away.
Baahubali ruled the box-office for three whole weeks, as no other Hindi release made an impact on the box-office.
Half Girlfriend opened on a decent note collecting Rs 10.27 crore on Friday. These are very decent numbers considering the budget and promotions been put in the movie. The last Bollywood movie to get a double digit opening was
Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya, which opened in March.
Hindi Medium, the other Hindi release, stayed low on Friday collecting Rs 2.81 crore. The movie is expected to take the good jump on Saturday and Sunday. Irrfan starrer Hindi Medium has been generating good buzz since its promo release. Translating on the good buzz, the movie was solid in multiplexes, while the single screen theatres stayed low.
Hindi Medium fared through some good reviews and solid word of mouth. This is the primary reason for distributors to bet on the movie for a good weekday run. Despite getting a decent double-figure opening, Half Girlfriend struggled with reviews. The movie was thrashed by the critics and the word of mouth is also not good. It will be interesting to see how the movie fares on Saturday and Sunday after being stumped by the critics.
Half Girlfriend opened to a decent screen count with 2500 screens compared to 1200 screens for Irrfan's Hindi Medium. However,
Baahubali even in its 3rd week has retained over 1800 screens. It might not come as a surprise if
Baahubali beats both the Bollywood movies over the weekend. Baahubali has crossed Rs 450 crore and might enter the Rs 500 crore mark this weekend.
Half Girlfriend was strong in the single screen theatres and multiplexes picked up in the evening shows. This was bound to happen considering the commercial genre of the film and some good music to add on. The movie has fared well in the metros, and the mass markets like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are strong for the movie. Irrfan's Hindi Medium is riding solely on the multiplex audiences considering its subject and star cast.
Mohit Suri's Half Girlfriend needs to maintain its footfalls on the weekends and a strong weekday to post a respectable total on board. However, things are much sorted out for Irrfan's Hindi Medium, as the movie is packed in the tight budget, great word of mouth and critic reviews will help it post decent numbers at the box-office.
