Chennai Express breaks records in Pakistan

Cinema owners have raised ticket prices for Chennai Express. In some areas it is being screened five to six times a day.

A scene from the movie Chennai Express, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Courtesy UTV Motion Pictures

Chennai Express has broken box-office records in Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, -reports Bollywood.com.

The blockbuster action comedy, directed by Rohit Shetty, stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.

"There is no doubt that Chennai Express has become the biggest box-office hit from India since the government allowed Indian movies to be screened," said Mohammad Qadri, the media spokesman for IMGC Entertainment. Based in Lahore, IMGC Entertainment is Pakistan's biggest distribution company and imports Indian films via Dubai.

Qadri said that the film, shown on eight screens across Karachi, has so far grossed more than 40 million rupees (Dh2.3m). “The figure will be higher when the final figures of ticket sales all over Pakistan are available,” he said.

The previous record in Pakistan for the highest-grossing Indian movie was held by Salman Khan's 2010 film Dabangg.

Qadri said the film is so popular that Pakistani cinema owners have raised ticket prices and also increased the number of shows to five or six a day. "Clearly the Pakistani people enjoy the movies of Shah Rukh Khan. The film's ticket sales exceeded expectations," said Qadri.

"It did much better than all the other Eid movies, including some Pakistani movies and the Hollywood blockbuster The Wolverine."

Pakistani film critics seem to like the movie, describing it as “entertaining time-pass”.

One critic wrote: "The Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer is an aesthetically selected evolution of the Dabangg genre." – The National staff

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