Padman is hitting the screens this weekend and is arriving with good anticipation. Even though the release has been pushed ahead by a couple of weeks, there has been no decline in momentum around the publicity and marketing. As a matter of fact a fortnight more that the R. Balki directed Film has got has only helped in added awareness around the film and its subject by means of the ‘pad challenge’ all over.

The film is now seeing a solo release for itself since Aiyaary has been pushed ahead by a week. That said, there would be competition from Padmaavat which is continuing to do quite well and will also occupy a good count of screens. Nonetheless, PadMan is not the kind of film that needs 3000+ screens to break even and would be content to release anywhere between 2000-2500 screens.

All of this means that the film could well be looking at a 12-14 crore opening day number. That would be decent considering the fact that PadMan is basically a content-driven film and hence would see word of mouth taking it through. Also, since women audiences are expected to give this film good patronage, weekdays are expected to be solid too.

Akshay Kumar has been enjoying a great run with five back to back centuries [Airlift, Housefull 3, Rustom, Jolly LLB 2, Toilet – Ek Prem Katha] and most of these have come from a decent beginning. It’s the content and word of mouth that has worked for his films and PadMan is expected to carry forward that trend.

This is also the third collaboration between Akshay Kumar and KriArj Entertainment (after Rustom and Toilet – Ek Prem Katha) and the makers would definitely be aiming for a hat-trick here.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder

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