Gully Boy and Total Dhamaal ruled the box office in February 2019.Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy and Indra Kumar’s Total Dhamaal dominated Bollywood box office in February. While it is believed that February is a dull month at the movies, this year was a surprise. The two films, together, added more than Rs 200 crore to Bollywood box office collections.
With its strong storyline, the Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer Gully Boy impressed critics and after a mediocre start, the film picked up with strong word-of-mouth. It collected Rs 71.25 crore over its four-day opening weekend and stayed strong even during its first week. By the end of week one, the film based on the lives of underground rappers of Mumbai registered its name in the coveted Rs 100 crore club and in its second weekend earned Rs 18.05 crore. With a steady footfall, its total collection stands at Rs 123.10 crore until now.
Gully Boy became the second highest opener (Rs 19.40 crore) for Singh after Simmba which opened with Rs 20.76 crore collection. However, the movie worked more in metro cities. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared that Gully Boy showed an upward trend in Mumbai circuit specifically.
Released a week after Gully Boy, Total Dhamaal starring an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi and others is the most successful film in the Dhamaal franchise. Within a week, it has set the cash registers ringing and has earned Rs 88.05 crore. Taran Adarsh has predicted that the comedy caper will touch the Rs 100 crore in its second weekend. He also mentioned that because of its mass appeal, the film has managed to be such a massive success.
He tweeted, “#TotalDhamaal has an edge over other mass entertainers… Families/kids are patronising it big time… No wonder, mass circuits/single screens + metros + plexes in Tier-2 cities are *collectively* putting up a strong total… Normal ticket rates [not hiked] are a plus. There’s no denying that national chains [plexes in metros and beyond metros] contribute to a big total, but let’s not overlook the contribution by mass pockets/single screens… Make movies that hold pan-India appeal, only then can we expect achche din for trade.”
The other contributors to the box office collection in February were Vicky Kaushal’s blockbuster hit Uri: The Surgical Strike and Anil Kapoor-Sonam Kapoor starrer Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (Rs 20.26 crore). Uri completes its 50 days in the theaters this Friday and after 50 days the film’s collection stands at Rs. 235.90 crores.
Speaking about the performance of movies in February, film trade analyst Girish Johar said, “Gully Boy did its Rs 100 crore collection and Total Dhamaal is also on its way to do 100 crores. For a change, we have Rs 200 crore coming from two films in February, which is a rarity. Generally, because of the examination season, the month of February does not generate much business for the filmmakers. The youth, who are the key audience, do not turn up in the theaters in as many numbers as they do in the other months. But this time it’s different. February 2019 is on a higher scale in comparison to other Februarys.”
He added, “Gully Boy has performed exceedingly well in Mumbai, Pune and four to five other cities. Whereas, Total Dhamaal has been appreciated by a wider audience. So in terms of audience acceptance of a film, it is Total Dhamaal that has the upper hand.”
