The Current Cinema - Dilwale - Adrienne McKibbins reports on another blockbuster that opened world wide this week

Dilwale. Directed by Rohit Shetty, Produced by Gauri Khan & Rohit Shetty, Script by Yunus Sajawal, Dialogue by Sajid Farhad. Cast: Kajol, Kriti Sanon, Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan. India, 2015, 154 minutes. 

I have not done a review of this film yet, and I am almost reluctant to ...It has been slammed by the majority of Indian critics (which is not surprising for reasons I will explain when I write something about the director.) 

However, Dilwale prevented Star Wars being released in India on the same day as everywhere else, and was put back a week, so it did not have to compete with a Shah Rukh Khan (SRK)- Kajol starrer.

While the critics are mostly less than impressed, the masses seem to have loved the film, SRK gets multiple tweets a day from industry and fans, saying how much they love the film.. etc.. etc.. And of course the masses are what counts.  This is the first time that Red Chillies (SRK's company which co produced the film) is also the distributor.. so he will be laughing all the way to the bank as they say...

A few facts of interest

#Dilwale has had the biggest opening in the Gulf region and outrun a huge franchise film  Star Wars. It is the number 1 film in the Gulf currently.

#In UK, the film has had the highest opening of 2015 of all Bollywood movies released this year. It is at number 2 on the top 10 charts of ALL films released in the UK this week.

#The Australian audience has declared another success story for the film. It is the biggest opening Bollywood film in Australia of 2015 and the biggest ever for SRK.

# It stands strong at the number 4 position of the Box Office charts in USA and number two position in Malaysia and New Zealand.

#Overseas Dilwale has grossed a phenomenal Rs. 56 crores (approx. $8 million) over the first weekend. With the holiday period setting in, it seems set for a good second and third week after the first week is complete,.

 #Dilwale has taken the biggest opening in Gulf region and outrun a huge franchise film like Star Wars. It is the number 1 film in Gulf currently.

# It stands strong at the number 4 position of the Box Office charts in USA and number second position in Malaysia and New Zealand.

#In India the ticket prices dropped from today, for week day screenings. If the film makes a certain amount of money and is considered a family entertainment it becomes tax free..