Independent films the world over are known for their low budgets, niche appeal and a limited target audience. Another well-known convention in the movie industry is that a film’s box office outcome is judged against its budget. The weekend saw release of Dubai-set relationship drama Pinky Memsaab, an almost a no-budget film with a new cast, a completely non-commercial subject matter and treatment and zero promotions. The movie has managed to collect in the range of 35 lacs and will possibly end its box office run with a figure close to its actual budget, which will be a remarkable achievement for a film whose makers intended it for festivals only. While this figure is poor from the standpoint of a commercial film, it is actually fairly decent for a no-budget indie project with little production value. The collection of the movie is still better than many recent commercial disasters such as Chain Aye Na, Hotal and Geo Sar Utha Ke and gives some hope for upcoming indie flicks Durj and Gumm.
The animated box office hit of the season, The Donkey King, collected 30 lacs, taking its lifetime total to 22.8 lacs. The movie is unlikely to touch the 25 crore mark, however, it has already collected an outstanding figure and is likely to maintain its lead as the highest grossing animated film for some time.
The coming weekend sees release of the well-marketed animation film 3 Bahadur: Rise of the Warriors and it will be interesting to watch the audience reaction following the mega success of The Donkey King.
Figures courtesy Boxofficedetail
