First Day First Show: Mubarakan Off To A Good Start While Indu Sarkar Lags Behind

The chacha-bhatija of Bollywood, Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor have come together onscreen for the first time with Mubarakan. The Anees Bazmee directorial has received good reviews and the audience too has given it a thumbs-up.


Arjun Kapoor And Anil Kapoor In Mubarakan

Other releases today include Madhur Bhandarkar's Indu Sarkar and Tigmanshu Dhulia's Raag Desh. While one is a political drama set during the era of emergency (1975-77), the other is a story from the pre-Independence days. Both have received average reviews.


Neil Nitin Mukesh In Indu Sarkar

So I went ahead this morning to a few suburban theatres to gauge the audiences’ reaction to the film.

People coming out of the shows unanimously loved Mubarakan, especially Anil Kapoor's half-Brit half-Sardar character.

Arjun Kapoor's double role too received appreciation, but his Sardar act seemed to have impressed much more than his twin.

Among the girls, none of the three (Ileana D'Cruz, Athiya Shetty & Neha Sharma) seem to have impressed the audiences. Overall, the comedy was what won the audiences over.


Arjun Kapoor's Double Role In Mubarakan

At the same time, Indu Sarkar received a lukewarm response from moviegoers. Theatres have allocated lesser shows for the political drama. People who stepped out after watching the film, were however impressed by Kirti Kulhari’s performance and opined that she carries the whole film.

Raag Desh saw a limited release, and didn't have any shows in the morning and afternoon at most of the suburban theatres.


Raag Desh Movie Poster

Finally without much ado, let's ask our trade experts about their predictions for the three films.

Trade Expert Akshaye Rathi said, "Mubarakan is the pick of the week. The word-of-mouth and the reviews are really good for the film. It might earn around Rs 7-7.5 Crore on Day 1, but considering the audiences’ reaction, the evening shows might have a better collection, which could push the collections to something around Rs 8.5 Crore. Indu Sarkar seems to be affected because of the political controversies surrounding it. It might do a business of about Rs 1-1.5 Crore on Day 1. Raag Desh has no hype at all. It's a very limited release so it will most probably not touch the 1 crore mark."

Trade Expert Taran Adarsh said, "In one word, Mubarakan is FUN-tastic. It was witty and really humorous. Anees Bazmee got it right. On the other hand, Indu Sarkar was engrossing. Madhur Bhandarkar has returned to his form with the captivating drama. Post-interval portions of the movie pack a solid punch."


Athiya Shetty And Arjun Kapoor In Mubarakan

Trade Expert Amod Mehra said, "Mubarakan is a complete paisa vasool full family entertainer. Arjun Kapoor and Anil Kapoor are simply fantastic. It's a superhit."

Gaiety Galaxy and Maratha Mandir owner, Maoj Desai said, "Mubarakan has good word-of-mouth. Morning shows were around 40-45%, while Indu Sarkar was just 20-25%."

So now that you know how audiences are reacting to the three releases this week and the trade pundits’ predictions, you can ahead and take your pick.


Image Source: youtube/bhandarkarproductions/sonypicturesnetworksproductions