Average start for 'Nautanki Saala' and 'Commando'

Looks like both Vipul Shah's Commando and Rohan Sippy's Nautanki Saala have got off to a comfortable start at the box office. While the Vidyut Jamwal starrer did well at the single screens, Sippy's film featuring Ayushmann Khurrana brought film buffs to the multiplexes.

A still from Nautanki Saala

However, the trade feels that while Nautanki Saala has not found favour in its audience and the word of mouth publicity is very disappointing, the collections however are decent. In the meanwhile, Commando is likely to survive the weekdays in single screens given the heavy dose of action in the film. Chashme Baddoor continues to bring in cinephiles to the cinema halls and has collected around Rs 29.31 crore in its first week and Rs 6.5 crore in its second weekend bringing the total after 10 days to Rs 35.81 crore.

A still from Commando

The figures for Nautanki Saala in its opening weekend are Friday Rs 3.04 crore, Saturday Rs 3.91 crore and Sunday Rs 4.25 crore making its total Rs 11.19 crore. On the other hand, Commando raked in Rs 3.67 crore on Friday, Rs 3.36 crore on Saturday and Rs 4.12 crore on Sunday bringing its weekend total to Rs 11.15 crore. The neck-to-neck collections for both the films comes as a major surprise and the weekdays will decide as to which film will ultimately make money for its investors.

Trade expert Amod Mehra says, "Both the film have been made on a similar cost and have even performed alike in its opening weekend. The opening of Nautanki Saala has been poor and only Sunday was better. Considering that it is such a bad film, the collections seem to be decent. Commando lacks a storyline, music and romance for repeat value. The action is good but the villain mouths most of his dialogues in Punjabi, which makes it look like a regional film. Both the films will find it tough at the box office."

On the other hand, analyst Atul Mohan says, "Both the films are average and it remains to be seen which one will make money ultimately, as everything depends on the collections on weekdays. On Monday Commando did slightly better than Nautanki. Sippy's film managed to get better show timings and more shows in the multiplexes and that worked in favour of the film. As of now we have to wait and watch before drawing any final conclusion."

(Figures courtesy Box Office India)