Bell Bottom: The Akshay Kumar, Vaani Kapoor and Lara Dutta Starrer Opens To A Roaring Response In The Theatres - EXCLUSIVE
When Vashu Bhagnani and Akshay Kumar took the decision to bring their recent collaboration, Bell Bottom, to the theatres, even with no intimation about the opening of theatres in their biggest market Maharashtra, it was a big gamble. While industry insiders have been waiting to see the outcome, the theatre owners are overjoyed with a big superstar like Akshay taking this first step to revive their business.
It has just been half a day since the film opened in theatres but the reports coming in are indicating a positive response altogether. Devang Sampat from Cinepolis India shares an update about the film’s performance from the advance booking and morning shows. “The film has opened pretty well. Throughout the day, we are experiencing about 70 percent occupancy for every show in our open theatres and it has given us a ray of hope. Today being a partial holiday, we are expecting the performance to only improve and grow over the weekend,” he says.
Ask him if he thinks the film being in 3D has helped increase the outpour of the audience in theatres and he agrees. “It means a lot that Vashu Bhagnani ji took that first big step to go ahead with a theatrical release, even though one of their biggest market, Maharashtra, that accounts for about 30 percent of the total business, was non-operational,” he says, adding that now the performance of the film will determine the next step for all other filmmakers, whether or not to go for a theatrical release.
Kamal Gianchandani of PVR Cinemas also has hopeful things to say about Bell Bottom’s performance till now. “The response has been fantastic. We are very encouraged and excited about the prospects. Even the reviews are fantastic and we are confident that the movie will be in cinemas for a long time,” he shares, refusing to indulge in numbers and comment on the occupancy report in his theatres.
According to Rajender Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer - INOX Leisure Ltd, "We have always believed and said that the industry needs one blockbuster to kickoff the recovery process and we are glad that the blockbuster has arrived. We positively hope that the momentum built by the fantastic response for Bell Bottom on the first day marks the onset of our revival journey. We will soon witness the same old vigour and fervour."
Bell Bottom is directed by Ranjit Tewari and stars Akshay, Lara Dutta, Vaani Kapoor and Huma Qureshi in the lead. The film depicts the story of a true incident that occurred during former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s tenure.
Image Source: Imdb, instagram/bellbottommovie/akshaykumar
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