"3 Idiots" grosses Rs 315 crore in 19 days

A still from the movie '3 Idiots'.

The makers of Bollywood blockbuster "3 Idiots" today said the Raju Hirani film, starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharmaan Joshi, Omi Vaidya and Kareena Kapoor, had grossed more than Rs 315 crore ($ 70 million) in the first 19 days worldwide.

Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film had broken all the previous box office records for Indian films, a press release issued by its distributors, Reliance Big Pictures, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), said.

More than 60 million people have watched the film in theatres and the numbers are only growing, the release said.

It said more people had watched "3 Idiots" in two weeks than any other film so far. It quoted trade expert Taran Adarsh as saying, "3 Idiots is unstoppable. That’s the truth. No distributor, no trade expert can predict the business of this film."

The release said that in India the second week occupancy of "3 Idiots" fell by a mere 28 per cent, indicating a very strong word of mouth for the film.

It said most multiplexes had added 14 to 21 new shows in the second week compared to first week with 150 additional shows.

According to the release, in the overseas market also "3 Idiots" has beaten past records of all earlier Indian films to emerge as the new benchmark for the Indian film industry in the overseas box office.

The film is the highest grossing Indian film ever to release in the United States, the Middle East, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Kenya and Fiji, beating all previous records.

The film in UK has retained its position in the top 10 films at the British Box Office and is also Aamir Khan’s biggest grosser so far and the highest box office grosser of 2009. The screen count in the US has increased by 25% by the third week, it said.

"As a member of the team, I am so happy with the kind of success that the film is achieving. Thanks to Raju, for making the film so well, to Vinod for doing such a great job as a producer and to Reliance Big Pictures for the kind of release they gave the film," Aamir Khan said.

Chopra said he was thrilled and humbled that so many people all over the world had loved the film. "It proves true Rancho's mantra: chase excellence and success will follow," he said, referring to the main character in the movie.

Reliance Big Entertainment Chairman Amit Khanna said the movie had opened new vistas for the Indian film industry. "The huge response across continents reinforces our belief that a well-made, well-exploited film can still create magic in the darkened auditorium."

NNN