Truly, Bollywood is going through an interesting phase. Till a few years ago, either masala movies or mindless laughathons dominated the marketplace. But look at the films being churned out these days. Of course, there's ample room [read screen space] for all genres to co-exist, but the fact that diverse genres are finding an outlet, besides the tried-and-tested formula, clearly indicates that times are changing rapidly.
Aimed at the plexes primarily, LOOTERA was never meant set the BO ablaze with an earth-shattering start. It was meant to consolidate its status if the word of mouth was positive. That's exactly how this film has behaved at urban pockets. What goes in favour of the film is the fact that the makers kept the economics in check. Having cost approx Rs 32 cr [inclusive of P and A], a substantial chunk of the investment has already been recovered from Music, Home Video, Overseas, Satellite and ancillary rights.
As for the India theatrical rights, Balaji decided to give the film to several distributors on Advance, so that they [distributors] don't incur losses, if the film falters. The controlled release in India -- targeted primarily at urban plexes/1000 screens -- was again a step in the right direction and the revenue generated from urban centres should ensure recovery of the balance investment, thus taking the film to the comfort zone. Of course, it remains to be seen how it fares in its second weekend, but if the steady business is an indicator, the second weekend should witness an upward trend again, especially on Saturday and Sunday.
POLICEGIRI, on the other hand, had to be content with the business generated from mass circuits/single screens. One shouldn't expect every film to go the DABANGG or SINGHAM way, but POLICEGIRI did witness ample footfalls at single screens over the weekend, which proves that masala movies work well in several circuits of India. It remains to be seen if the makers, who have also distributed the film themselves, will eventually recover the investment, since there's a wave of interesting films lined up in the forthcoming weeks and the screen space, obviously, will shrink considerably as a result of it.
