‘Udta Punjab’ On a High With Rs 33 Crore First Weekend

Udta Punjab’s box-office collections bring happy news to its producers

Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor have a hit (Photo: Yogen Shah)

The controversial Udta Punjab has emerged as the 5th highest grossing Hindi film this year, having collected Rs 33.80 cr nett over its first weekend. The Abhishek Chaubey directed film started off with Rs 10.05 cr on Friday and the collections climbed steadily to Rs 11.25 cr and 12.50 cr on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The online leak of the film’s censor copy two days prior to its release seems to have had no effect on Udta Punjab’s popularity especially in Delhi and Punjab. So far Bollywood’s biggest opening weekends this year have been:

• Housefull 3            Rs 53.31 cr
  
• Fan                             Rs 52.35 cr
  
• Airlift                         Rs 44.30 cr
  
• Baaghi                       Rs 38.58 cr
  
• Udta Punjab           Rs 33.80 cr
  

Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt would be heaving a sigh of relief as their last box-office outing together - Shaandaar had tanked at the box-office. Though Shaandaar too collected around Rs 33 cr over its first weekend, the film had a much higher production and publicity budget compared to Udta Punjab.