First week collections: While ‘Badhaai Ho’ strikes jackpot, ‘Namaste England’ sinks miserably

Last Friday saw the release of two highly anticipated films – ‘Badhaai Ho’ and ‘Namaste England’. While ‘Badhaai Ho’ was unanimously praised by the critics, ‘Namaste England’ didn’t receive similar reviews.

Despite being made on a bigger budget, ‘Namaste England’ has been dwarfed by ‘Badhaai Ho’ when it comes to box office numbers. According to Box Office India, ‘Badhaai Ho’ has earned as much as 64.75 crores in its first week, and is showing no signs of slowing down.  On the other hand, ‘Namaste England’ has made just Rs. 7.8 crores at the box office.

Word of mouth publicity is crucial in today’s day and age, and last weekend’s films proved just that. ‘Badhaai Ho’ is a progressive story where an elderly mother gets pregnant leading to a lot of confusion. Alternatively, ‘Namaste England’ is a half-baked story about two people who want to settle in England, by hook or by crook.

In our review of Namaste England, we wrote, “With ‘Namaste England’, you don’t even see a silver lining that can help redeem the film and make it tolerable. It’s bizarre because the basic premise of the film itself is extremely outrageous. How can anyone who has read its script think that they could make something convincing out of it? Even the most gracious of viewers would find it difficult to endure the ordeal of watching this film.”

The end seems to be near for ‘Namaste England’, while ‘Badhaai Ho’ seems to have a huge window till ‘Thugs Of Hindostan’ releases on Diwali.

Also read: Box Office: ‘Badhaai Ho’ is unstoppable while ‘Namaste England’ struggles at the ticket window