Box office — Sachin: A Billion Dreams has a good first week

Sachin: A Billion Dreams, the biopic on former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has fared well in its first week, bagging Rs35 crore nett, as reported by BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Directed by Englishman James Erskine, the film has largely received positive reviews and the strong word-of-mouth has helped it achieve consistent numbers at the box office.

The film, which is made at an approximate budget of Rs30 crore, had released across 1,100 screens in India. Reaching the Rs50-crore mark might be a difficult task, but if the film crosses the Rs40-crore mark, it can be said that the film has done well. It has already become the most successful film in the genre, with the last documentary to do well at the Indian box office was Krishna Shah’s Cinema Cinema (1979). That film had made a nett of around Rs70-75 lakh, as reported by BoxOfficeIndia.com.

Meanwhile, Irrfan Khan’s critically-acclaimed film Hindi Medium continued its fine run at the box office, bagging Rs41 crore nett after week two. Made at a modest budget of Rs23 crore, Hindi Medium had released across 1,126 screens in India. The film, directed by Saket Chaudhary, bagged a decent collection of Rs17.75 core nett in its second week.

The two films face a challenge with a host of films releasing today (2 June), the most prominent among them being Priyanka Chopra’s maiden Hollywood flick Baywatch, that is expected to get a sizeable number of screens.