Salman Khan’s ‘Jai Ho’ off to a slow start

Jai Ho could manage to garner barely over Rs17 crore on its opening day at the domestic box office. Trade experts say in comparison to the star’s previous films, this won’t create any fireworks in terms of records.
It stars superstar Salman Khan and has masala aplenty — but

Reportedly made on a budget of Rs75 crore, Jai Ho hit about 4,500 screens in India. It collected Rs17.55 crore in the country on Friday, according to an official statement.

“As per my knowledge, it’s less that Rs17 crore. The figure is quite low,” Rajesh Thadani from Multimedia Combines said.

“When ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ released in 2012, it collected around Rs30 crore on its opening day. It’s Republic Day on Sunday, so the figures will be better. But it is expected to earn maximum Rs25 crore,” he added.

Directed by Salman’s brother Sohail, the movie, which also stars newcomer Daisy Shah along with Tabu and Danny Denzongpa, is a political thriller with a heavy dose of action sequences featuring Khan.

Coincidentally, Salman’s super hits Wanted, Dabangg, Dabangg 2 and Ek Tha Tiger — were all action-packed dramas. And Jai Ho too belongs to the same category.

Puneet Sahay of Spice Cinemas says audiences are not so excited about the film because of the same genre.

“On Friday, the occupancy was just 40 per cent and Saturday was 50 per cent. Sunday’s morning shows were around 80 per cent.

“Going by the performance, Jai Ho will probably touch Rs100 crore in a week, but not in the first three days of its release. Some people from the audience said that it’s repetitive. People are probably fed up of the fact that he is continuously doing action movies,” said Sahay.