Punjabi film Ishqan De Lekhe has emerged as a HIT, driven by a sustained box office trend. The Gurnaam Bhullar starrer saw its second week collections surpass the first, and now it continues to collect in its third week, in the face of box office juggernaut Dhurandhar: The Revenge. The third week has brought in over Rs. 1.50 crore nett approx in six days; the full week will be around Rs. 1.75 crore. The third week drop will be around 70 per cent, which may seem steep, but consider this: most of the other holdover films are out of cinemas.
The total box office collections in India stand at Rs. 11.75 crore nett approx and will be around Rs. 12 crore nett at the end of this week. The film should hold better in the fourth week and quite possibly be on par with the third week. If it does so, it can aim for a full run of around Rs. 15 crore nett. Additionally, the film has earned USD 700K (Rs. 6.50 crore) overseas, for Rs. 20.50 crore approx worldwide.
What stands out is the fact that the film has become a HIT because of its business outside the Punjab state, which, well… happens a lot as overseas business outside the Punjab state is a big driver for Punjabi films. This time, however, its domestic business outside the Punjab state that is doing the heavy lifting. In the 2nd week, Punjab state was just 35 per cent of the total business, with Haryana being ahead of it. This never happens.
The NCR cities, Gurugram and Faridabad has collected Rs. 80 lakh nett in two weeks. In full run, it should cross Rs. 1 crore nett, which very few Punjabi films have managed to do. Films like Carry on Jatta 3 and Jatt & Juliet 3 collected around Rs. 2 crore nett. To be half of those here is amazing, when Punjab state will be barely 20-25 per cent. Notably, Ishqan De Lekhe was the top film of last week in these centres, ahead of The Kerala Story 2, and that was the case in several centres of North India, including Delhi, Noida and Jaipur.
The genre seems to be the factor making the difference. The past year has seen tragic love stories such as Saiyaara, Tere Ishk Mein, and Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat emerge as major surprise successes. The film is on similar lines and is getting traction in the Hindi belt cities, despite not being a Hindi film but a Punjabi. This shows the strong audience appetite for the genre, something the Hindi film industry would do well to tap into.
