Dhoni biopic scores Rs 60 crore-plus on opening weekend

"M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story" -- a biopic on India's star skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni -- has netted Rs 66 crore on its opening weekend at the Indian box office besides receiving an overwhelming response overseas also, the makers have said.

Directed by Neeraj Pandey, the film features Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role. He has been lauded for his form and performance as a cricketer, and fans of Dhoni as well as the actor have been increasing the footfalls at the theatres for it.

According to a statement issued on behalf of the film's makers, it "scored a massive number over the weekend, showing a huge jump and collecting Rs 24.10 crore on Sunday (Oct 2)".

On its opening day on Friday (September 30), the movie collected Rs 21.3 crore, and on the following day, it made Rs 20.6 crore. Its Sunday collections have taken the total to Rs 66 crore.

"Owing to an overwhelming word of mouth from across the city, the weekend total is Rs 66 crore nett," read the statement.

The makers claim "M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story" has managed the second highest weekend collections of 2016 in India after Salman Khan starrer "Sultan".

"The film has opened exceptionally well. It has lived upto the expectations of all pre-release hype. The film is getting an overwhelming response from the audiences. Weekend occupancy of the film was over 75 percent at INOX," said Rajender Singh, Vice President - Programming and Distribution, Inox Leisure Ltd.

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted: "M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story" is sensational... Packs a solid total."

The producers are happy with the film's performance in the international market too. It made $1.1 million in the US, $24,000 in Britain, $1.2 million from the Middle East and $193,000 in Australia, the makers said.

With this, it earned an estimated opening weekend collection of $ 3.3 million abroad, thus making it the fourth highest opening weekend of 2016 after "Sultan" ($ 13.4 million), "Fan" ($ 6 million) and "Houseful 3" ($ 4 million), the makers said.

To celebrate the success, the film's makers released a video in which Dhoni himself talks about his journey.

"I believe that only cities are small and not the people living in it or their dreams. I believe that a man's height is measured through his intentions. I believe that only those people talk about destiny, who have never stepped out into the field," Dhoni says in the little over 30-second promotional video.

"I believe that exhaustion and pressure are only myths. I believe that the distance between winning and loosing is big, but it is not impossible," he added.

--IANS

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