Dum Maaro Dum collects Rs 16.5 crore in its opening weekend

The film,made on a production budget of Rs 22 crore (excluding print and promotion),has recovered Rs 16.5 crore (nett) over the weekend including paid previews on Thursday,co-producers Fox Star Studios said. “We have had a rocking weekend. Dum Maaro Dum collected Rs 5.4 crore on Friday,Rs 4.7 crore on Saturday and Rs 5.6 on Sunday. Apart from this,we also collected Rs 80 lakh by way of paid previews,” Vijay Singh,CEO of the studio said and added,“DMD is Abhishek Bachchan’s third biggest opening of all time after Dhoom 2 and Dostana. The film is doing quite well in most centres.”

Singh also said that DMD has recorded the highest opening of 2011 after Yamla Pagla Deewana and Thank You. “Apart from this,the film has also recorded the highest ever opening in the Southern region for 2011. The casting decision of having Rana Daggubati has paid off handsomely,” he said. Trade analysts and multiplex officials confirmed that the film has opened very well in centres like Hyderabad and Benagluru.

The trade,though,has reacted cautiously to the film’s figures. None of them is willing to write off the movie even though its collections over the weekend have remained average. “DMD opened on Friday with 35 per cent occupancy and rose to 45 per cent by Sunday. We collected Rs 1.3 crore over the weekend from the sale of ticket. Those are disappointing figures for a film that had so much buzz around it. We were expecting around 70 per cent occupancy for Dum…” Girish Wankhede,Deputy General Manager of Cinemax India said.

Prakhar Joshi,Head-Programming,PVR Cinemas concurred and said that the film’s occupancy was lower than expected. “The movie collected Rs 2.35 crore (gross) over the weekend. It is doing well in metros but the figures could have been better. We collected Rs 73.86 lakh on Friday,Rs 77 lakh on Saturday and Rs 82 lakh on Sunday,” he said.

Wankhede blames poor word-of-mouth for the film’s opening. Cinemax India held 10 paid previews on Thursday from 6.30 pm onwards but shows began filling up only after 8 pm. “It was brave of the makers to hold paid previews because it can make or break a movie. However,even those who saw the preview did not contribute to positive word-of-mouth for the film,thereby hurting its chances,” he said. Singh of Fox Star Studios is unperturbed. “With paid previews,you are scared about the opinions people may form about your movie but we were confident of our product and had no inhibitions in screening the film. The film’s success has vindicated our belief in producing an unconventional film like DMD. In fact,we did a survey where DMD ranked seventh in terms of word-of-mouth,eclipsing films like Band Baaja Baaraat and Tanu Weds Manu,” he said.

DMD got a mixed response in overseas territories. With Fox Star Studios’ unparalleled reach,the film has collected around $1.4 million over the weekend. “We collected $3,60,000 in the US,$3,00,000 in the Middle East,$1,57,000 in UK,$1,50,000 in Australia and New Zealand while the balance $4,00,000 was collected from countries like Malaysia,Singapore etc.” Singh said.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra said that DMD will lose a few crore post its opening weekend. “The film will lose Rs 10-15 crore. It is experimental and has no repeat value. It does not have a heroine either while the music is a big letdown. Abhishek Bachchan and the camerawork are the only redeeming factors of the film,” he said.

Singh,on the other hand,contended that the movie has already recovered its production cost. “We have collected Rs 11 crore nett after sharing our cut with the exhibitors. We would have collected even more if the film was not certified as ‘adult’ by the censors. Another big advantage is that there is no big release for the next five weeks till the IPL is on. DMD’s satellite rights have been sold for Rs 8 crore to Star TV and even T-Series has struck a fantastic deal with us,” Singh concluded.