Two distinct films have released today - Dream Girl 2 and Akelli. Former is the sequel to a blockbuster film of Ayushmann Khurrana, Raaj Shaandilya and Ekta Kapoor, which had scored a huge century at the box office pre-pandemic. On the other hand, latter is a film which is seemingly on the same lines as this year’s major blockbuster The Kerala Story.
Let’s talk about Dream Girl 2 first. The film has been very well promoted, marketed and released, and one has to give it to the makers that never once did the pace slacken in terms of bringing in the right kind of visibility and creating a good buzz. Of course, this is not an event film but for a mid-budget affair that needs just the right kind of start, so that it, at least, reaches out to the audiences and then earns well on the basis of making a good impression, this one does the job. Even in light of competition from Gadar 2 and even OMG 2, it should still open in Rs. 9-10 crores range at least and perhaps go even higher.
As for Akelli, it’s about a young woman (Nushrat Bharucha) who gets trapped in the terror land in the Middle East. The promo of the film is good and reminded one instantly of The Kerala Story. It seems to have a far more commercial touch though. It has arrived at a time when a number of other films are already playing in theatres, which means it has to make a place for itself on the basis of sheer content. As a result, it would be word of mouth primarily that will come into play once the day is through. It would be aiming to take a start of at least Rs. 1 crore so that there is some kind of a base set before the rest of the weekend begins.
