'Vishwaroop','Midnight Children' open on average note

Two controversial films, Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroop and Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children, which hit theatres here today, witnessed an average opening at the box office.

"Both films have been average till now. The opening has been somewhere between 25-30 per cent for the morning and afternoon shows. But it will grow with word of mouth in the evening and night shows as more people come in at that time," Girish Wankhede, General Manager, Marketing and Public Relations of Cinemax, told PTI.

Ashish Saxena, CEO, Big Cinemas, said, "Both the films are doing fine. The opening would be 30-35 per cent at our 12 Big Cinemas in Mumbai. The opening is not that great because not many people are aware about the release. We are hopeful that both films will pick up by evening."

Manoj Desai of Gaiety-Galaxy said, "Both films are doing good business. But they are not housefull films."

According to trade analyst Komal Nahta, both the films have had a moderate opening in Mumbai. He said Vishwaroop has had a better opening than Midnight's Children.

Vishwaroop is the the Hindi version of Haasan's trilingual magnum opus and Midnight Children is based on Salman Rushdie's Booker prize winning novel of the same name.

Both the films have been embroiled in controversies for several reasons even before their release. While Haasan's mega-budget production is facing a ban in his home state of Tamil Nadu, Rushdie's visit to Kolkata to promote the film was cancelled at the last moment, with the author lashing out at the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.