Last week it was predicted in this column that 'Badlapur' would take a 30%-40% for itself and then would see gradual rise in collections with every passing show, owing to (expected) good word of mouth. This is exactly how it unfolded for the Sriram Raghavan directed affair as 'Badlapur' managed all around positive reviews for itself. The buzz had peaked at just the right time and by the time 'Badlapur' hit the screens, its target audience had warmed up enough to catchy what was in the offering.

This was reflected in the opening day collections of over 7 crore, which was good considering the fact that a) Badlapur is an adult rated film, b) It has a dark theme to it, c) Varun Dhawan's target audience are kids/teenagers, whereas Badlapur is for mature audience and most importantly d) patrons have become more conscious than ever before to spend any money on buying tickets in theaters.

In this perspective, the Varun Dhawan-Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer has at least opened a window of opportunity for entertainment to be offered in theaters. This was reflected in the manner with which footfalls increased on Saturday and even though there was India v/s South Africa Cricket World Cup match on Sunday, the footfalls were steady, hence resulting in a very good weekend for Badlapur with around 24 crore* coming in. Now all eyes are on how weekdays would perform from this point on though the way the film has been accepted, one pretty much sees a steady run for this Dinesh Vijan and Sunil Lulla production.

As for Irrfan Khan`s Qissa, it went totally unnoticed as there was hardly any release that it fetched for itself. Those amongst critics who saw the film did appreciate it but that's where the buck stopped. Pun intended.

Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder

Watch 'Badlapur' Trailer