Cricket matches, exams affect wedding fever

With actors like Farhan Akhtar-Vidya Balan on board, Shaadi Ke Side Effects, had a slow start with the collections picking up on Saturday. According to trade expert Vinod Mirani, “The response to Shaadi Ke Side Effects was poor on Friday. The collections improved on Saturday and Sunday, but the good run, did not spill over in the new week since on Monday, the film didn’t have much occupancy. Whatever patronage the film found was at few multiplexes in West and North with single screens rejecting the film. The film registered a figure of Rs.20.2 crore for the first weekend.” According to trade experts, Shaadi Ke Side Effects was made on a budget of approximately Rs.30 crore.
Exhibitors, distributors, and trade experts feel that the film faced tough competition due to exam time and the Asia Cup cricket matches. “There’s clearly been an impact because of the cricket match being played in Bangladesh. India-Sri Lanka is always an exciting match, and so is India-Pakistan. This had an impact on the collections as people ended up watching the match, especially on Friday and Sunday which are considered to be crucial days for a film’s business. Nevertheless, considering that the film had no Khan, Devgn, Kapoor, Kumar or Roshan, the film received a decent opening,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi. But, Sanjay Dalia, President, Cinemax India feels that since it’s an entertaining film, the business will grow through good word-of-mouth, and it should end up making a decent collection at the end of first week. Highway, in the meantime has continued to do decent business in the multiplexes all through the week. According to koimoi.com, the film collected Rs.21 crore at the end of the first week.

Hollywood releases

As far as Hollywood releases are concerned, four films released along with Shaadi Ke Side Effects – Non Stop, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, and Mr Peabody & Sherman, but none of them have done exceptional business. Dalia adds, “Only Non Stop has done better than the rest of the films, with about 40 per cent occupancy.” Dallas Buyers Club too, has also done slightly better.

Upcoming releases

With films like Total Siyapaa, Gulaab Gang, Queen and 300: Rise Of the Empire hitting the theatres this week, the competition is tough. “While Gulaab Gang, and Queen are women-oriented, Total Siyapaa looks more like a youth-oriented romcom. But more than competition from each other, the main challenge to these films comes from the exam season,” says Mirani.

Screen Forecast

Our Verdict

In Screen issue dated February 28-March 6, 2014 we predicted that since Shaadi Ke Side Effects deals with the post-marriage challenges with actors like Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan on board, it had already aroused a lot of interest, thus, would perform well in the metros. Although the film had a slow start owing to factors like the cricket match and exams, it is performing comparatively well at urban centres. It is also doing a tad better at multiplexes than single screens.