Happy Bhag Jayegi has gone from strength to strength and has ended its third week on a high as well. So far, the film has collected 28 crore* and that is a good number considering the fact it has started with an opening day number of 2.32 crore. To do more than 10 times the business of its opening day and still counting is something rare in current times. In fact after Neerja (another female oriented story) this Eros and Aanand L. Rai film is another true-blue word of mouth flick of 2016.
For Diana Penty, the film's success has come as a shot in the arm as she was largely missing in acting since Cocktail, which was a very good hit. Also, director Mudassar Aziz too has got his due after an ad-hoc start with Dulha Mil Gaya which had taken ages to be completed. Abhay Deol too is back in the scheme of things and can revamp his career. Jimmy Sheirgill has demonstrated yet again that in an ensemble affair, he is a great value add. As for Ali Fazal, he would be happy to be a part of a successful flick.
Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar's Rustom has touched the 127 crore* mark. Though the film would just fall a few lakhs short of Airlift <129 crore>, it still is from an academic perspective since both Akshay Kumar starrers are big superhits. As a matter of fact, Akshay Kumar's three films <Airlift, Housefull 3, Rustom> have now generated over 365 crore at the Box Office in 2016, which is a huge feat indeed. Unless Aamir Khan throws a huge All Time Blockbuster in Dangal, the record for generating the maximum moolah in a calendar year would stay on with Akshay Kumar for 2016.
*Estimates. Final numbers awaited
Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources