Chennai Express chugs past the Rs 200 crore mark

The movie raked in Rs 43.91 cr in its second week after collecting Rs 156.7 cr in its first week

Continuing on its record breaking run, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Chennai Express has breached the 200 crore (gross collection) milestone at the end of its second week. The movie raked in Rs 43.91 crore in its second week at the back of a first week collection of Rs 156.7 crore.

 

The movie, released on 9 August, drew in record breaking first day gross collections of Rs 33.92 crore and went on to become the fastest 100 crore movie, making the moolah in just four days. It received the widest release ever in Bollywood with 3800 screens in India and 750+ screens overseas. 

 

Chennai Express continued its run into the second week despite the release of Balaji Motion Pictures Limited's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaraa on 15 August. The film with Akshay Kumar in the lead is a sequel to Ajay Devgn and Emran Hashmi starrer Once Upon a Time in Mumbai which has impressed the critics and set the box office registers ringing. The second installment of the franchise however met disappointing fate with collection never really taking off after a limited release on 15 August and not so positive word of mouth.

 

Disney UTV and Red Chillies, the co-producers of Chennai Express, have not stopped promoting the movie in print and television even after its release. Khan, who is also the promoter of Red Chilies said in a chat with Business Standard that for a movie like Chennai Express, the strategy of release and promotion are very important in its success. “For example, now that we know that the movie is becoming popular s a family movie, we'll target more screens and shows that are frequented by families,” he revealed. The strategy seems to be working as the movie continues to draw footfalls to the cinema halls.

 

The coming week too looks like a hopeful one for the movie with the only competition coming form John Abraham Production and Reliance Entertainment's Madras Cafe, which is a political thriller based on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. According to sources within the industry, the niche movie may not pose much of a threat to Chennai Express.