Udta Punjab finally released at the theatres on Friday after winning the battle with CBFC. Considering all the tussle the film went through one expected that the pandemonium might just create a craze and work out well for the film.
This has been the reaction on social media after watching the film:
Oh yes… and Arvind Kejriwal posted about it too.
But some distributors are not very happy with the way business is turning out at single screen cinemas.
Rajesh Thadani a film distributor said “The opening is just average and I think the film will just collect about Rs.8 to 9 crore on its first day, which is below our expectation. The opening has certainly not been encouraging considering the controversy. The film has not opened well in single screens and even in multiplexes, the film has opened well just in a few pockets,” he told IANS.
Considering the controversies, he too had high expectations from the film in terms of its box office business, but the numbers failed to impress him on day 1.
The filmmakers of Udta Punjab faced a series of unfortunate events for the past few weeks. It all began when the film was uselessly being politicized. Then followed the trolls and finally their worst nightmare occurred when someone leaked the film online.
But Surendra Saluja, a distributor from Punjab had a slightly different story to tell about the film’s progress in the state.
“The opening shows were not that great but the next shows went houseful. Now most of the shows are houseful in multiplexes but there is a major drop in single screens.”