Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Shah Rukh Khan on the response to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: “Everyone’s telling me that regardless of how the film is, you are very good in the film. That means the film is good!”

Sabyasachi Chakraborty on the response to Tintorettor Jishu: “I am getting a lot of messages and phone calls from various people… some say it’s my best Feluda film.”

The first weekend results of the superstar and the super sleuth at the box office have turned out to be just what the doctor ordered for Bollywood and Tollywood.

“The audiences have come back to the theatres,” says a relieved Vikas Syal, the general manager of INOX (Forum). “All 12 shows of Rab Ne went house-full on Sunday. Tintorettor Jishu is doing well and we are keeping the evening show in the second week.” The cash registers at the six-screen Fame (South City) are also ringing. “The 16 daily shows of Rab Ne did about 85 per cent business over the weekend, while the evening show of Tintorettor had 95 per cent footfall,” smiles a spokesperson.

Sabyasachi Chakraborty in Tintorettor Jishu

Thanks to Shah Rukh Khan (with 1,200 prints worldwide) and Feluda (with 29 prints), the box office is beaming once again. “We have been pleasantly surprised with the response to Tintorettor Jishu and are planning to add a few prints from the third week,” says producer-distributor Vinayak Sarkar of T Sarkar Productions.

Rarely are the nights so good for a Bengali film. “The night show is drawing the largest crowds,” says Arijit Dutta of Priya Cinemas. “This is a very pleasant trend with a lot of youngsters watching the film.”

Feluda is plotting for Week 3 but Shah Rukh may not have that luxury with Aamir Khan storming theatres on Christmas Day. But the mood in the Rab Ne camp is bullish.

“It has already done mindblowing business with the single screens doing as well as the plexes,” says Pritam Jalan, the Bengal distributor of the Yash Raj Films production. “Ghajini with all that violence doesn’t cater to the women in the audience and we expect Rab Ne to stay afloat.”