The power of romance makes ‘Love Aaj Kal’ rock box office

NEW DELHI - Love is immortal. Ask Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone whose recently released “Love Aaj Kal” has sent the cash registers ringing, raking in Rs.8 crore (Rs.80 million) on its opening day. And experts say the movie has tremendous box office potenial.

“The response to the film has been amazing and we have had jam-packed houses over the weekend. While we had an occupancy of 98 percent on the first day (Friday), the weekend has been house full with 100 percent occupancy. It’s an entertaining movie and worth watching once,” Amit Awasthi, manager programming and operations of Spice Cinemas, Noida told IANS.

“We are running 25 shows for the movie in a day and have already collected Rs.16,56,000 over the first weekend. In fact, we’ve already sold 2500 tickets even today. The movie is going strong and is expected to get more business with Rakshabandhan (Aug 5) coming and is going to stay on until ‘Kaminey’ releases Aug 14,” he added.

A source from PVR Cinemas echoed the same sentiment and said: “The reaction to the movie is very good and people have really liked the movie. We are expecting more footfall coming in the way it has been over the weekend.”

Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the movie has been co-produced by Saif and his friend Dinesh Vijan along with Sunil A. Lulla under their banners Illuminati Films and Eros International respectively.

Spanning across two different eras - the film is about the essence of love that never changes despite time and space differences.

Made at a budget of around Rs.48 crore (Rs.480 million), it released across 1800 screens worldwide. It is the third A-lister hit of 2009 after “New York” and “Kambakkht Ishq” though the latter was panned by critics in terms of content.

Also starring Rishi Kapoor, Shweta Gulati and Rahul Khanna, the film is the launch vehicle of Brazilian model Giselle Monteiro.

“‘Love Aaj Kal’ is a super hit movie. The occupancy has been somewhere between 90-100 percent bringing in good collections, which is very impressive. It’s a simple and romantic movie and a must watch for a family,” said Yogesh Raizad, corporate head (cinemas), Wave cinemas.

“We are running 11-15 shows across different properties and the movie is going to stay anywhere close to two-three weeks. Moreover with the Rakhi holiday coming in, families are surely going to bring in footfalls considering the storyline appeal of the film,” he added.

In terms of A-listers, “Love Aaj Kal” has no contender until Shahid Kapur-Priyanka Chopra starrer “Kaminey” hits the screen.