Let the battle begin. This weekend will see the release of two heavyweight pictures. Shah Rukh Khan's newest film Dilwale and Deepika Padukone's Bajirao Mastani. This will truly be a battle of the titans. SRK is box office gold in everything and Deepika has been lighting up the screen recently with her string of films Piku and Tamasha. It will be very difficult to bet against Deepika with Bajirao Mastani.
Bajirao Mastani may have the leg up. According to The Indian Express, it will occupy the most single screens. Quote, "Screen numbers will matter for the first three days. More the number of screens, greater will be the footfalls and larger the box-office collections. Buzz is Eros has booked a majority of single screen theatres across the country as part of a deal inked while distributing Salman Khan's 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' during Eid this year. Veteran distributor Ramesh Sippy agrees, "For the moment, the balance is titled slightly in favour of'Bajirao Mastani since they have single screens with them."
However, Dilwale has Shah Rukh Khan.. He is the king of Bollywood and virtually a box automatic. He might have a litlle trouble this time around, however. Reviews for Dilwale have not been good. This from The Indian Express, "There's nothing new in Dilwale, which steals moments not just from Rohit Shetty's Golmaal films, but also from Hollywood rom com Love Actually. Rohit Shetty is back in his favourite Goa, choosing to use sets which look like sets, done up in blindingly bright colours ( it's almost as if the scenarist is scared to miss out a single hue in the palette)."
However, as with Salman Khan, SRK's fans tend to look past the flaws of his sometimes less than perfect films. Will they do that this time or will Deepika Padukone continue her recent string of successes? We will just have to wait and see.
