Finally the film the moviegoer as well as the exhibition trade have been waiting for: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, hits the screens. There will be debates about its merits. Its comparison with the first part, Baahubali: The Beginning, is inevitable. However, one subject, on which there will be no debates, is the film’s box office prospects.

Baahubali: The Beginning created a solid ground work for this film, created a brand equity and made the audience wait for the Conclusion. Those involved made the most of it as they planned an open week release for the film at over 4,000 screens, a rare phenomenon for a dubbed South origin film.

What Baahubali2 is expected to do at the box office is beyond what any Hindi film has done so far and may, hopefully, inspire Hindi filmmakers. Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have been the best draws so far when it comes to Hindi films. But, even their hit films fall short by a length of what this South dubbed film is expected to achieve. The film also stands to gain on its first Monday, it being a holiday in Maharashtra and some other states.

The 45-day long Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 tournament, during which release of major films is avoided, seems to have had no effect on the collections of this film.

The film opened to full or near full houses and maintained figures of over Rs 40 crore on all days of its opening weekend to come up with collections figure of Rs 128 crore for three days.

*Noor, a film based on the Pakistani author/journalist SabaImtiaz’s book ‘Karachi You Are Killing Me!’ proves a damp squib. Totally out of sync with audience taste, the film fails badly. It manages to collect Rs 6.6 crore in its opening week.

*Maatr, RavinaTandon’s film about gang rape and revenge finds few takers. The film just about crosses one crore mark to collect Rs 1.1 crore in its first week.

*Begum Jaan collects Rs 2.75 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 17.85 crore.