Friday, February 22, 2008

'Jodhaa Akbar' grosses Rs 38.50 crore worldwide in opening weekend

'Jodhaa Akbar' grosses Rs 38.50 crore worldwide in opening weekend


It may have evoked a mixed response from film critics but the sweet tale of romance between Mughal Emperor Akbar and his Rajput Queen Jodhabai in the Aishwarya Rai – Hrithik Roshan starrer Jodhaa Akbar seems to have cast its spell on cinegoers in India as well as abroad.

Released on February 15 to an unprecedented 1300 cinema screens in 26 countries, 'Jodhaa Akbar', a film which attempts to look at an aspect of life of the Mughal King Akbar hitherto not touched upon in history books; as "Akbar The Romantic' who in course of his journey from Jalaluddin to Akbar the Great', wins the love of his beautiful queen Jodhaa, has rocked the box office, grossing Rs 38.50 crore worldwide in its opening weekend, sources in UTV Motion pictures, the producers of the film, said.




The gross of Rs 38.5 crore in its opening weekend, of which the gross collections in India alone is Rs 25 crore plus, makes the opening garnered by grand period romance as amongst the Top 5 weekend openings of all time for a Hindi film, the sources said.

In the overseas markets, the collections of 'Jodhaa Akbar' in its opening weekend make it the Top 5 opening weekends of all time for an Indian film.

In the US, where the film was released to 129 prints, the film garnered the second highest opening weekend of all time.

Directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar , the director of the Oscar nominated Lagaan and the critically acclaimed Swades , ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, a co-production of UTV Motion Pictures and Ashutosh Gowarikar Productions, releases on nearly 1300 prints across 26 countries in the US, Europe, Asia and West Asia, making it the biggest release ever for an Hindi film.

In India alone the film released in nearly 1000 screens of which 400 were through digital cinemas and over 500 physical prints. The scale of its release makes ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ the biggest ever release for an Indian film till date, company sources say.

The film has been dubbed in 3 languages – Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and subtitled in English, Arabic and Dutch. However, while the original Hindi version and the subtitled versions were released on February 15, the Tamil and Telugu versions will be released at a later date.

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