The chemistry between Aamir Khan and Kajol proved rather potent at the box office abroad with Fanaa opening to a strong $880,000 (about Rs 3.9 crores) in North America at the 13th position on the box office chart, over the four-day holiday weekend on 72 screens.
But convert that gross for a three-day period and it falls a bit short of the $700,000 (about Rs 3.15 crores) Aamir Khan's previous hit Rang De Basanti took on 61 screens a few months ago.
Though the figures for Fanaa from the United Kingdom were not immediately available, the buzz has it that it is emerging there among the top 10 hits. Conservative estimates expect the film to gross about $1.6 million (about Rs 7.2 crores) on both sides of the Atlantic, with the take for the full week exceeding $2 million (about Rs 9 crores).
Many of the 72 screens in North America, especially in New York, Vancouver, San Francisco and Toronto reported several house-full shows on Saturday and Sunday for Fanaa.
The call for the boycott of the film in Gujarat, because of Aamir Khan's stance on the Narmada dam rehabilitation, apparently did not resonate with audiences here, especially with younger viewers. Many younger Gujaratis told reporters what mattered to them most was if the film had turned out to be gripping and entertaining.
The solid opening for Fanaa is also significant since Pakistani and Bangladeshi audiences did not want to see the film, with some saying it would give a distorted view of what is happening in Kashmir.
But Fanaa's performance so far could not beat that of the Shah Rukh Khan-Preity Zinta-Rani Mukerji starrer Veer-Zaara, which grossed $840,000 (about Rs 3.78 crores) in a three-day weekend two years ago or the $1 million (about Rs 4.5 crores) taken by Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (this casting coup multi-starrer also had Kajol in a pivotal role) five years ago.
All three films were released by Yashraj Films and Veer-Zaara and K3G each grossed about $3 million (about Rs 13.5 crores) in North America. It looks like Fanaa should have no trouble reaching the $2 million (about Rs 9 crore) benchmark in North America. Many viewers in New York and New Jersey theatres said they were moved by the film and would recommend to their friends that it be seen on the big screen.
"The opening for Fanaa is stronger than what I expected," said BoxOfficeGuru.com's Gitesh Pandya, who is the publicist for the film as well as the arthouse hit Water, which emerged last week as the highest grossing (about $3 million or about Rs 13.5 crores) Hindi film in North America.
Aamir Khan is up there with Shah Rukh Khan as a huge box office draw. Even Aamir's box office disappointment Mangal Pandey opened with $500,000 (about Rs 2.25 crores) in North America this year but it had no staying power, plummeting by about 65 per cent in its second week.
The four-day Memorial Day weekend also marked a solid engagement for Water, which unlike Fanaa is playing mainly to mainstream audiences. Many Indians have seen the film on video, and the movie is not playing in theatres meant for the usual Bollywood films.
It is not often one finds two hit Hindi films among the top 25 movies on the box office chart. Incidentally this week, the chart was led by the comic book movie X-Men: The Last Stand that grossed an astounding $122 million (about Rs 540 crores) in four days.
In its fifth weekend, the Deepa Mehta-directed Water grossed nearly $400,000, (about Rs 1.8 crores) taking its total to $1.4 million (about Rs 6.3 crores).
Combine that figure with its $1.7 million (about Rs 7.65 crores) Canadian gross -- the film opened in Canada soon after its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival last September -- Water, which is released by Fox Searchlight, has emerged as the most successful Hindi film in North America in about a year.
It has good chances of flowing beyond the $2 million (about Rs 9 crores) mark in the US, taking its North American gross to $4 million (about Rs 18 crores). Mehta's film was number 21 on the box office list.
"Water is slowly opening in smaller cities week after week," says Pandya. "This weekend it opened in cities such as Ann Arbor and Cleveland. The word of mouth has been very good for the film. Though many Indians have seen the film on video, they are recommending it to their American friends, he adds.
"And then there is a second generation of Indian Americans who are not into buying the video before they see the film," he continues. "For them seeing a film like Water is something of an event and they have to see it on the big screen first.
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