 "2 States gifts Chetan Bhagat third hit in a row")
2 States, starring Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor and adapted from a Chetan Bhagat novel by the same name, had the highest opening week collection (Rs 60.77 crore) this year after Salman Khan’s Jai Ho at Rs 87 crore.
Produced by Dharma Productions and Sajid Nadiadwala, 2 States is directed by Abhishek Varman and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures, a division of Disney India. The film is about a Punjabi boy and Tamil girl falling in love on campus at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and their efforts to convince their parents to let them marry.
2 States is a hat-trick for Bhagat, after the success of 3 Idiots in 2009 and Kai Po Che last year, both adapted from his novels.
Cinematic adaptations are not new in Bollywood. Devdas has been adapted for the silver screen time and again and ‘Macbeth’, ‘Othello’, and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ have inspired movies. The results have been mixed, though. While Maqbool and Omkara were critically acclaimed, their commercial success is nothing compared to Bhagat’s novel-turned-movies.
Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has had a fair amount of success in converting books to Bollywood fare with Devdas (2002, starring Shah Rukh Khan) and Ram Leela (2013, starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh). But Saawariya (2007, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor) bombed.
2 States made Rs 50.52 crore globally in its opening weekend. The film made Rs 36.08 crore at home, where it was released on 2,050 screens, and Rs 13.44 crore overseas, where it was released on 350 screens in 30 countries. The film continues to do good business in India, with collection dropping by an expected 50 per cent on Monday. The film made around Rs 24 crore in the week despite movie halls being closed in parts of the country for elections.
Bhagat’s journey from books to Bollywood had a shaky start with ‘Hello’, adapted from One Night at a Call Centre, bombing in 2008 with a collection of about Rs 18 crore. His second attempt, Raj Kumar Hirani's cult hit 3 Idiots inaugurated the Rs 200 crore club in Indian box-office collection. This was followed up by Kai Po Che, adapted from ‘Three Mistakes of My Life’, which did good business in India (Rs 48 crore net) and abroad (Rs 15 crore).
UTV Motion Pictures and Bhagat seem to have a good thing going. The author-turned-public speaker has co-written the studio’s forthcoming Kick. UTV Motion Pictures will also produce the film adaption of Revolution 20:20, for Rajkumar Gupta, director of Aamir and No One Killed Jessica.
“I love the way they understand the business, package their films and conduct themselves professionally.The fact that they have backed four films I am a part of means they also like my work and our sensibilities match,” Bhagat said.
Amrita Pandey, vice-president and head of marketing and distribution, studios, Disney India, said, “Like all of Chetan’s previous books, 2 States also resonates with the youth and had a hook for family viewing. The idea was to capitalise on this through targeted distribution. We were encouraged by the response the trailers of 2 States received and knew that the trick would be to pinpoint where to release the film in India and abroad.”
2 States released on 815 single screens and 1,235 multiplex screens in India. It opened to 95 per cent occupancy on April 18, collecting Rs 12.42 crore on that day. This is the third highest opening for a movie this year after Jai Ho (Rs 17.5 crore) and Gunday (Rs 15.5 crore). Overseas, it was released on 135 screens in North America (Canada and the US), 63 screens in the UK, 46 screens in the Middle East and 15 screens in Australia. The remaining 91 screens were distributed among emerging overseas markets for Bollywood films like Germany, Southeast Asia and parts of Europe and Africa.