Thappad made a satisfactory debut at the box-office, as the film generated revenues between Rs. 2.60 to 3.00 crore on its first day. Business shot up in high end multiplexes in the metropolitan cities during the evening and night shows. The upbeat reports from the media have boosted the opening day collection, which is better than what the trade was expecting. If the viewers’ word-of-mouth follows the sentiment reflected in the media, the collections will surge drastically on Saturday and make another modest rise on Sunday, thereby taking the weekend tally to a decent range of 12 to 13 crore.
As it has been the case with all films this year, the hold in collections on Monday followed by a healthy trend on weekdays will take the film towards the success route, but at the moment it’s a wait and watch scenario. Thappad is made on a limited budget, and a 30 crore plus lifetime total will put the makers in the black. The biz is driven by Mumbai and Delhi, however the mass belts is more of a no show. A few single screens have recorded collections as low as Rs. 500 and Rs 1000 to the capacity of 2.50 lakh, which speaks volumes about the interest around the topic in heart land of India.
Films like Thappad tend to appeal to only a limited demographic, and as such, it does not garner much success outside of the premier city multiplexes. Despite this, its opening day collections are significantly higher than Kangana Ranaut’s recent sport drama, Panga (2.70 crore), indicating its more niche appeal. Panga, however, has fared better at mass-belts, which may give it the slight edge in terms of overall revenue; this will be seen once the figures are released tomorrow morning. It should be noted that the opening day revenue of Thappad is still lower than that of Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak (Rs 4.77 crore).
A two–digit weekend would be beneficial to the film’s success, yet a Monday box office figure similar to the Friday one is indispensable in order to make the film a true success story.
