Though Grand Masti evoked mixed reactions from the critics surprisingly the film has set the cash registers ringing with its weekend collections. The response has been so good that the trade has adjudged the film as the fourth highest grosser in terms of opening collections this year, after Chennai Express, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Race 2.
The film is said to have raked in Rs 40 crore approximately over the weekend. This week’s other release John Day made Rs 1 crore while Horror Story earned around Rs 3 crore. They hardly proved to give any competition to the adult sex comedy helmed by Indra Kumar. Last week’s release, Shuddh Desi Romance appears to have lost steam and collected Rs 5 crore over the weekend while Zanjeer collected Rs 4 crore nett (first week). Satyagraha has collected Rs 56 crore (two weeks) while Madras Cafe has collected Rs 45 crore (three weeks).
Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, “Grand Masti has done excellent business. It opened to a flying start on Friday. The film saw a normal drop of five per cent on Saturday with Sunday working well for the film again.” The only hurdle in Grand Masti’s route, feels Mehra, is its adult film tag that will make the recovery from satellite rights a bit difficult.
“Music and home video is too insignificant. Banned across UAE, it has to rake in at least Rs 70 crore nett to recover its costs. However sub distributors and producers will make money.” Exhibitor Akshay Rathi says, “Grand Masti is one of those films that nobody will endorse, but everybody will enjoy. Call it vulgar, cheap or crass, the film’s promos have been absolute eyeball-poppers and have managed to grab attention. While the collections of Horror Story are not something to boast about, the silver lining is that it was made on a shoestring budget.”
According to distributor Suniel Wadhwa, “Friday, the 13th seemed to have worked in Grand Masti’s favour. The film had a 95 per cent male audience. It received a lot of good word-of-mouth, which suggests the film will hold. It could just make it into the top 10 highest grossers of this year. ”