'Baadshaho', 'Shubh Mangal...' bring respite to Bollywood box office

Mumbai: "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan" and "Baadshaho" have brought welcome relief to the dry spell at the Bollywood box office this year. Their release clash notwithstanding, both movies have fared well in their opening weekend with collections of Rs 14.46 crore and Rs 43.30 crore, respectively. Directed by Milan Luthria, "Baadshaho", which features Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta and Vidyut Jammwal, collected Rs 12.60 crore on its opening day and received hike in numbers with collections of Rs 15.60 crore and Rs 15.10 crore on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. "Baadshaho" is set against the backdrop of Emergency. On the other hand, Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar-starrer "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan", which dwells upon erectile dysfunction, started on a slow note on Friday with collections of Rs 2.71 crore only. However, the film saw good response over the weekend and collected Rs 5.56 crore and Rs 6.19 crore on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, indicating good word-of-mouth publicity. "It's raining at the box office. Eid festivities (holiday) on Saturday gave a big boost to the business of both 'Baadshaho' and ‘Shubh Mangal Savdhan'," trade analyst Taran Adarsh posted on Twitter on Sunday. "Business to jump further... Real test from Monday onwards," he added. With failure of big budget films like "Tubelight", "Jagga Jasoos", "Munna Michael", "Mubarakan", "Jab Harry Met Sejal" and "A Gentleman" at the box office, Bollywood has been going through hard times. Before "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan" and "Baadshaho", the only big budget film which received a positive response in terms of collection was Akshay Kumar and Bhumi's "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha".