'Shootout...' going strong at box office

Crime thriller "Shootout At Wadala" has collected approximately Rs.33 crore till Tuesday, while small budget anthology film "Bombay Talkies", which came out on the same day and got rave reviews, has garnered about Rs.6 crore.

Made at a budget of Rs.6 crore, "Bombay Talkies" was released in about 480 screens all over India, while big budget "Shootout At Wadala" hit approximately 1,700 screens in the country.

Both films hit the screens May 3, the day which marked 100 years of Indian cinema. Keeping their budget and scale of release in mind, they seem to be on the right track.

According to distributor Ramesh Sippy of BRS Enterprises, "Both the films have done average business while 'Bombay Talkies' has approximately collected around Rs.4.5 crore till Monday, 'Shootout At Wadala' has collected around Rs.33 crore till Monday all over India."

Rajesh Thadani from Multimedia Combines told IANS: "'Shooutout At Wadala' is doing pretty well. The film has collected around Rs.33 to Rs.35 crore till Tuesday. 'Bombay Talkies' was a little disappointing, it's not up to the mark. The film has collected around Rs.5.5 crore till Tuesday."

While "Shootout At Wadala" brought the story of Mumbai police's first official encounter when they gunned down gangster Manya Surve, played by John Abraham in the movie, "Bombay Talkies" strung an amalgamation of four short stories by four directors.

Delhi-based distributor Sanjay Ghai said: "In Delhi, 'Shootout...' collected around Rs.6.5 crore till Tuesday. It was released in around 50 to 60 screens in Delhi."

Sunil Bansal from Yash Raj Jai Pictures Pvt. Ltd. said: "In Rajasthan both the films have done average business. There was a lot of expectation from both the films, but 'Bombay Talkies' managed to collect around 15 to 20 percent, while 'SOW' collected around 40 percent in Rajasthan."