The response to the third biggie of the year, EKLAVYA – THE ROYAL GUARD, is divided. While the elite/gentry/classes have given their mandate, the masses haven’t taken to the film completely. The morning shows began on a modest 50% note, but increased to 80%-90% in the course of the day. Incidentally, Mani Ratnam’s GURU also opened to a similar response, but proved a success story eventually.
Sunil Lulla of Eros was optimistic about EKLAVYA’s prospects. While in conversation with this writer on Friday evening, the distributor was positive that the film would gross fantastic figures in its opening weekend. Ravi Machhar, another distributor of EKLAVYA [Nizam territory], admitted that the collections rose at key centres [Hyderabad, Aurangabad] on Friday, starting with 40%-50% and touching 85%-90% by the evening shows.
Preetam Jalan, who distributes EKLAVYA in Bengal, feels that the real test for the film will be on Saturday and also Monday. However, the film hasn’t released at multiplexes in Kolkata [except Fame multiplex], but despite that the collections were encouraging at the end of the day. Sanjay Ghai, who controls multiplexes in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, also opined that the first weekend looks promising.
