NorthStar EntertainmentA Telugu romantic drama starring Pawan Kalyan and Shruti Haasan squared off against a Hindi supernatural comedy featuring Diljit Dosanjh and Anushka Sharma in India and internationally last weekend. It was a win-win for Katamarayudu, which was already in profit thanks to hefty advance sales for the theatrical, satellite, digital and other rights, and for Phillauri, which only needed to earn 9 crore ($1.3 million) to recoup its economical production cost. The Kalyan-Haasan drama outscored the Dosanjh/Sharma comedy in the U.S. as a far wider release and in India where Phillauri resonated strongly in the North and Katamarayudu dominated in the South. Meanwhile Shashank Khaitan’s romantic comedy Badrinath Ki Dulhania, which stars Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Sahil Vaid, Yash Sinha and Shweta Basu Prasad, advanced to an estimated 108.50 crore ($16.3 million) net after its third weekend, still playing on 1,250 screens. The Fox Star Studios production now ranks as Bhatt’s second highest earner overtaking 2 States, and Dhawan’s second biggest, trailing Dilwale.

Source: Forbes March 26, 2017 22:41 UTC