"Merc with a Mouth" has scored over mush this Valentine's Day weekend with oddball Hollywood superhero Deadpool slicing Bollywood to size at the box office.

Deadpool, largely dubbed an "anti-superhero" because of his foul mouth and psychotic mind, got off to a cracker of a start ("Almost like a Salman Khan film," was the word from multiplexes) on Friday morning. Fans - and first-timers - thronged theatres to catch Ryan Reynolds rip it as he shoots and abuses with abandon to make Deadpool a deliciously fun superhero film.

"Deadpool has been an unexpected winner. The film really started big right from the first show on Friday morning and went from strength to strength. This will easily be the top draw of this weekend," said Subhasis Ganguli, regional director (east) INOX.

If the morning shows at all the INOX multiplexes registered a Deadpool footfall of about 80 per cent - powered by Calcutta's young and 'badass' (in Deadpool parlance) - the first day-first show at South City recorded 99 per cent occupancy. Enough to earn the envy of every Khan in Bollywood.

Even a Bolly biggie like Fitoor - a tale of love and loss based on Charles Dickens's Great Expectations and starring Katrina Kaif, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Tabu - was no match for the superhero in red Spandex, with its Friday footfall hovering around the 15 per cent mark. Sanam Re, the other mush fest of the V-Day week, starring Pulkit Samrat and Yami Gautam, was also a non-starter.

"We are thrilled with the response of Indian audiences to Deadpool across the country. The film has seen a 60 per cent opening on Day I and is doing well not only in the metros, but also in Tier II cities like Bhopal, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar. Despite the film opening in less than half the number of screens compared to its Bollywood counterparts, it's creating a huge impact," said Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, producers of the Tim Miller-directed film.

So what's worked for Deadpool, that's released on 800 screens across India and is playing at more than 60 shows daily in Calcutta? Right from the opening titles to the gory but fun action scenes to the post-credit jab at Marvel Studios, fans at the Friday shows were seen (and heard loud and clear) hooting and clapping, cheering and wolf-whistling for almost every scene and punchline. A loud cheer greeted Deadpool when he took a taxi - not a Calcutta yellow cab, though - to a fight scene, mouthed lines like, "I have just 12 bullets so you'll have to share," and pulled a 127 Hours-like trick, severing his hand and leaving it behind with his captor with a middle-finger salute.

So who were the thousands who filled the Deadpool plexes in the run-up to V-Day? Many had never read the Marvel comic books. The only reason they were there were the trailers and the aggressive, off-beat promotions. "I haven't read Deadpool and didn't have much idea about it but there is this particular fight scene in the trailer where Deadpool shoots a gang of men in ultra smooth slow-motion. I was so fascinated that I came to watch the film," said Agniprava Nath, a first-year journalism and mass communication student of Asutosh College.

Those who had read about the Marvel man feared that the film would be mercilessly chopped by Pahlaj Nihalani and his not-so-merry men at the censor board. But the relatively few cuts - seven in total, with words like "balls" and "b*** job" bleeped out and some scenes of sex and violence watered down - also ensured that many were walking in for a big-screen show rather than downloading it on their computer screens.

"The cuts we have made are minimal and general and don't mar the viewing experience in any way. We have ensured that the film is shown to Indian audiences in almost the same way as it was made unlike China where drastic cuts were first asked for and the whole film was eventually banned," a Central Board of Film Certification member told Metro.

So, don't be surprised if many a young Valentine in Calcutta spends this love weekend going LOL with a superhero who is the new definition of cool. "Deadpool might have just redefined the very definition of coolness, much to the dislike of Iron Man. This is surely one of the best comic book hero movies I have seen with the most epic post-script. Just crash those ticket counters already... a must-watch," said Rohit Roy, a third-year student of KIIT University.