SS Rajamouli has become India's favourite director thanks
to the Baahubali franchise. The first film Baahubali: The Beginning became a
blockbuster with earnings over Rs 650 Crore, and by the looks of it, the sequel
is a worthy successor.
Starring Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty
and Tamannaah Bhatia in lead roles Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has opened
to housefull theatres across Mumbai.
A visit to a few suburban theatres made it clear what the
term 'Housefull' means. Morning shows opened up to almost 98-100% occupancy in
some of the most popular multiplexes (Cinepolis Andheri West, PVR ICON Versova,
Carnival Cinemas Oshiwara, Movietime Goregaon, PVR Juhu). The footfalls were
definitely higher than anything that we have seen in the recent past.
Audiences walking out of the theatres weren't
disappointed. Everyone unanimously praised the grand scale of the film. Things
were larger than life, and all expectations seem to have been met as people
were referring to Baahubali 2 as the 'biggest war film ever to be made in
India.'
The audience finally got the answer to the question which
has been on everyone’s mind for the past two years - 'Why did Katappa
kill Baahubali?'
Image Source: twitter/dharmamovies
And by the way, the popular conspiracy theories about
Katappa have all been proven wrong by the sequel.
So without further ado, let's have a word with some of
the most trusted trade experts and film distributors to find out their
expectations and predictions for Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.
Trade analyst Amod Mehra said, "The collections for
Baahubali 2 will be earth shattering. It will rewrite history. Just the Hindi
collections will give the Khans a complex. It’s surely going to be a supreme
blockbuster."
Trade expert Taran Adarsh said, " Housefull boards
are back. There are queues of people outside the theatres. It's a tsunami, a
typhoon and a hurricane all together. In all languages it's creating a
havoc."
PV Sunil, CEO and Director, Carnival Cinemas said,
"We have never seen such a grand scale in India. We at Carnival Cinemas,
have 13 14 shows per day and that is the highest number of shows given to a
film ever at Carnival. All the morning shows had 100 percent occupancy. We had
shows as early as 5.30 am in Bengaluru and it was housefull. Advance
bookings took up 85-90 percent of seats for Friday and for the rest
of the extended weekend 70 percent has been booked as of now. We are expecting
that Baahubali 2 will cross Rs 70 Crore milestone easily in domestic market
today itself."
Manoj Desai, Owner of Gaeity Galaxy (Bandra) and Maratha
Mandir (Byculla) said, "Every morning show was full. The evening shows are
full with advance bookings. Reviews of the movie have been fabulous, and people
are enjoying every bit of it. Baahubali 2 is a sure shot winner."
Well, you heard what the audiences had to say and what
the trade pundits had to predict. We will be back with the first day
collections of the film tomorrow.
Thumbnail Image Source: youtube/dharmaproductions & twitter/dharmamovies