Rajinikanth v/s Ranbir Kapoor

Whilst Tamil superstar Rajinikanth may have washed out young turk Ranbir Kapoor in the south, it’s the Ranbir-Priyanka Chopra jodi  trumping in the north when it comes to the all-powerful box-office stakes.

“Ranbir-Priyanka have won the first round over Rajinikanth-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (in the Northern territory and Mumbai). Both the films have opened to a great response, but Ranbir-Priyanka have scored specially well in the multiplexes. But, I must say that Rajini’s film is one of the biggest grossers in recent times overall,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

Analysts say the Ranbir-Priyanka  starrer earned around Rs 26 crore in the initial weekend, while Rajini’s film pulled in close to Rs 7 crore. In the southern region, Rajini has broken records by ringing in a whopping Rs 100 crore in the opening weekend.
“This is no surprise because the Rajinikanth film was a dubbed one and it wouldn’t have done well against an undubbed one like Ranbir-Priyanka’s. The same logic has worked for Rajini’s film in the South,” says trade analyst Amod Mehra.

Trade analysts predict that while the Priyanka-Ranbir starrer might weaken in the coming week, Rajinikanth’s film shows signs of maintaining a steady collection throughout the country. According to cineplex owners in the North, most shows of the Ranbir-Priyanka film went houseful with over 90 percent occupancy, while both versions (Tamil and Hindi) of the Rajini film did close to 80 percent occupancy (on average).  The figures in the South for the Rajinikanth starrer are exceeding all expectations.