Mumbai, Feb 29 The Taapsee Pannu-starrer "Thappad", directed by Anubhav Sinha, saw a low-key opening of Rs 3.07 crore on Friday, its first day of release, in the domestic market despite excellent reviews and positive word of mouth.
Although the film lacks a high-powered star cast or commercial value, the trade had expected a start in the range of Rs 4-5 crore, according to the film trade website koimoi.com. Moreover, the website added, there wasn't much competition for "Thappad" from the films that were already running, what with both of last week's major releases "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan" and "Bhoot Part One: The Haunted Ship" seeing slow business overall.
This week, there are eight small films releasing apart from "Thappad", but these are too insignificant to make any dent at the box-office. In fact, most of these films have had no publicity and a majority of the audience has not even heard of them. The eight films are "Doordarshan", "Guns Of Benaras", "O Pushpa I Hate Tears", "Kehta Hai Yeh Dil", "Haunted Hills", "Rizwan", "Teen Muhurat" and "Cookie".
The sci-fi horror, "The Invisible Man" and the kiddie action comedy "Sonic The Hedgehog" were the Hollywood releases of the week. However, these films, too, opened in India without much of a hype.
While of hype, the makers of "Thappad" had systematically worked on creating a buzz about the socially relevant and well-crafted film over the past week or so, by screening it for select audiences in Delhi and Mumbai.
The advantage that Sinha's film has it is limited budget, and also the fact that pre-release response has universally been positive about the content as well as the overall acting, particularly of lead star Taapsee.
( With inputs from IANS )