Kahaani: The mother of a success story

Mumbai: It's a film that has earned six times its budget and besides becoming a commercial blockbuster Kahaani is also one of those rare Hindi films that's got an average rating of just under 5 stars from critics. A perfect example of critical acclaim coupled with box-office success. We decode Kahaani's mother of a success here.

When the posters of Kahaani were out, with a pregnant Vidya Balan as the lead protagonist with no romantic interest to boot, people expected a good film that might do moderate business at best. The critics also set their expectations low given director Sujoy Ghosh's last two duds.

And then the mother of a story released. Thanks to the average critics rating of 4 stars and extremely good word of mouth Kahaani with a budget of eight crore has grossed around 48 crore by it third weekend.

Besides becoming a commercial success Kahaani has also got an average rating of just under 5 stars from critics.

Kahaani: Mother of a success

Budget - 8Cr

Collections (3rd Weekend) - 48 Cr

According to sources, though Kahaani was ready before The Dirty Picture, the move to release Vidya's Silk avatar first paid off. A sexy siren after the pregnant Vidya may have backfired. Also the unconventional Kahaani was pushed by Vidya's popularity post The Dirty Picture, the National Award for Best Actress included.

"Kahaani was ready before the Dirty Picture but after thhe reception Dirty Picture saw I started seeing myself in a sexy light," Vidya Balan had earlier said at Rajeev Masand's show.

The fact that Kahaani had no big players at the box office to compete with gave it a undeterred solo run. In fact the film's collections just saw a 10 per cent drop after the first week, which is a definite indicator of it's sustained popularity with film goers.

The taut thriller with a jaw dropping end set people talking. From Facebook statuses to Twitter updates - 'Kahaani' seemed to be on everyone's Must Recommend or Must Watch list with film buffs dissecting every minor detail of the film on blogs along with interactive sessions with the director. And some of the "Kahaani"s quirky characters took a life of their own online.

'Kahaani' is currently rated 8.7 on Imdb and is the only Hindi film to be featured among the Top 50 thrillers of all time. This indeed is a mother of a success for a small budget film that began with no backers.

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