It was predicted in this column that Goodbye will take an opening in the range of Rs. 2 crores. The rationale was that the ambience was pretty much similar to that of Piku (slice of life entertainer) and when the Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan starrer had opened at Rs. 5.30 crores then this one with Rashmika Manadanna making her Bollywood debut in an Amitabh Bachchan spearheaded film will start at least half of that. This was also after taking into consideration that in the current OTT times, audiences had become far choosier.
However, for the film to get a start of just Rs. 0.93 crore was definitely not on the cards. After all, even Jhund had started with Rs. 1.38 crores despite post-COVID restrictions in place. In fact, the collections are amongst the lowest of the notable release of the year as only Rocketry [Rs. 0.94 crores], Dobaaraa [Rs. 0.72 crores], Dhaakad [Rs. 0.55 crores], Nikamma [Rs. 0.51 crores], Janhit Mein Jaari [Rs. 0.44 crores] and Shabaash Mithu [Rs. 0.40 crores] have opened lower than it.
Vikram Vedha isn't doing any great business either as the collections came down further to Rs. 2.54 crores on the second Friday. These are still the best amongst all Hindi movies in the running, though that's hardly any consolation since the multi-crore film with a star cast comprising of Saif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan definitely deserved to do better. So far, the numbers have moved up to Rs. 61.11 crores and while Rs. 70 crores would well be touched by close of the week, eventually, we are looking at a Rs. 85 crores lifetime total at best.
Meanwhile, PS-1 [Hindi] is doing fair business on the lower side, what with Rs. 0.75 crores* more coming in. The expectations have been kept under check since the film collected Rs. 1.85 crores on the opening day (when a start of Rs. 2-3 crores was expected). Considering that and the hold that it has demonstrated, with numbers around Dussehra being actually good, the Mani Ratnam-directed epic saga has managed to get Hindi-speaking audiences excited too to some extent. Currently standing at Rs. 15 crores, the film should go past the Rs. 20 crores in second week.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources
