The First Friday of New Year is always considered to be jinxed for the industry. However, the subsequent weeks give a flip to the box-office receipts. Last year, the first movie to reach double figures for an Opening Weekend was MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA. This year YAARIYAN did the honors.
The Friday battle was confined to YAARIYAN and DEDH ISHQIYA, both extreme in nature, given each film's face value as well as genre. Critics were unanimous in their appreciation for DEDH ISHQIYA and it reflected in their ratings for the movie. On the other hand, YAARIYAN became a martyr at the hand of critics with some of them severely panning the film and refusing to give any stars. However, the aam janta had a different verdict altogether. Fantastic promotion by T-Series and hit music ensured a good start for the movie. The movie received a tremendous response at the multiplexes with the young college going crowd becoming the key audience.
The Opening Day figures of YAARIYAN were nearly double to that of DEDH ISHQIYA (though both had a nearly equal screen count) and the business on Saturday as well as Sunday showed an increase. As things stand today, DEDH ISHQIYA has collected Rs. 12 crores over the weekend whereas YAARIYAN has collected Rs. 19.2 crores over the weekend. In fact the business of YAARIYAN is close to last musical hit of T-Series AASHIQUI 2 which collected Rs. 20.5 crores over the weekend.
Let's speak of economics now. YAARIYAN's Cost of Production is Rs. 9 crores whereas the Cost of Print & Advertising is Rs. 10 crores. Therefore, the total cost is Rs. 19 crores. A substantial chunk of investment of Rs. 9 crores has already been recovered from Satellite (STAR Network), music (Rs. 4 - 5 crores) and ancillary rights (Rs. 1 crore). The movie is therefore a profit making proposition for its producers. With Yaariyan, Divya Khosla Kumar made a successful debut as a director by making it a profitable film.
As things stand today, the movie is currently the highest grosser of 2014. As the song says - Din Bhi "Sunny Sunny" for the producers!
