Box office: Love Story, Qismat 2 set the cash counters ringing in their first week

The regional film industries seem to be slowly but surely picking themselves up and returning gradually to their pre-pandemic days.

Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi's Telugu romantic drama Love Story (2021), which had earned Rs22 crore nett on its first weekend in theatres, the best opening weekend by any film since cinemas reopened after the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, has finished its first week with a collection of Rs27.2 crore, according to Track Tollywood, a portal that reports box-office collections of Southern movies.

The film benefited from the availability of 100% seating in theatres across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Of its total collection of Rs27.2 crore, Rs3.7 crore came in from the US box office. Love Story, directed by Sekhar Kammula, also became the first Indian movie to mint $1 million at the American box office ever since theatres reopened in that country after the second wave.

Set against a Telangana backdrop, the film tells the story of a Christian lower-caste youth and a Hindu upper-caste woman who bond over their passion for dance and fall in love.

Meanwhile, Punjabi cinema has also been on a roll since theatres reopened in the country's northern regions. After earning Rs7.74 crore in its first five days, the Ammy Virk- and Sargun Mehta-starrer Qismat 2 (2021) collected nearly Rs2 crore more to take its seven-day total to Rs9.69 crore, according to trade website BoxOfficeIndia.com. These numbers are good considering that only 50% occupancy is allowed in cinema halls in the North currently.