Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s Brahmastra has brought back the audience to the cinema halls after a long-standing dry spell. The last five months have been simply abysmal for Bollywood as almost all big-budget movies, toplined by A-list stars, crashed at the box office without even a whimper.

Samrat Prithviraj, Laal Singh Chaddha, Raksha Bandhan, Shamshera, Runway 34, and Heropanti 2 are some of the biggies which didn’t even fetch decent initials and were dead on arrival. Karthik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 – helmed by Anees Bazmee – is the only movie that struck gold at the turnstiles and netted Rs 185 crore in India.

Now, Brahmastra, directed by Ayan Mukerji, has seemingly ended the drought by clocking up Rs 165 crore nett (all languages) in its first week. The movie did phenomenal business in its first weekend and raked in Rs 118 crore nett (all languages) in India. The collections dipped sharply on Monday and Tuesday but again steadied from Wednesday onwards.

The trend of the movie, so far, suggests that while it is doing roaring business in big cities and premium multiplexes, the collections in mass circuits are underwhelming. This means the appreciation for this mega-budget film is limited only to A-class centres. The collections will show excellent upturn in the second weekend because of very good acceptance among the city audience.👍🏻