Agent Vinod rakes in Dh2.35m pre-release

A jubilant Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor should walk the red carpet tonight as the former’s magnum opus, “Agent Vinod”, premieres at the Muscat Film Festival amidst media headlines and box office figures that should do the actor-producer proud.

Despite mixed reviews, the Bollywood spy thriller raked in Rs 95 million at the Indian box office on opening day according to producers, while the Thursday release in the UAE market has seen “Agent Vinod” rake in Dh2.35m by Friday, according to website, Top 10Bollywood.

While number crunching remains to be seen,estimates of Saturday’s Indian collections should take the earnings to Rs135.5maccording to industry experts.

Produced by Illuminati Films, which is jointly spearheaded by Khan himself, alongside Dinesh Vijan, “Agent  Vinod” has been made at cumulative budget of Rs620m.

In an interview with news agency, PTI, Vijan was quoted as saying: “The film has been made for Rs 500m and Rs 120m went for marketing totaling to Rs 620m. Out of which we have already recovered 50per cent as music and satellite rights have been sold for around Rs 300m.”

“The task ahead is to make around Rs300mwhich is a very achievable figure," he said.

Directed by Sriram Raghavan, “Agent Vinod”,has been filmed along the lines of Hollywood’s James Bond action-spy thrillers, which sees Khan play a RAW agent (India’s intelligence agency), who teams up with a reluctant Pakistani spy, Iram Bilal (Kapoor) to combat a global network of terrorists who are bent on detonating a nuclear bomb in New Delhi.

Packed houses welcomed the Bollywood film over the UAE weekend, with “Agent Vinod” garnering 15 daily screenings in Deira City Centre’s VOX Cinemas alone, with the late evening shows from 9pm onwards appearing as nearly sold out on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, Grand Cinemas showcased 12screenings of the Bollywood action film on Friday at its Wafi City outlet; while a whopping 25 screenings were packed in on the same day at its Al Ghurair Mall cinemas.

According to the production house, “Agent Vinod” will be released across 2,500 cinema screens in India and more than 500 screens worldwide.

However, even as the media buzz saw “Agent Vinod” trend on micro blogging site Twitter, in the emirates, the film’s early reviews have not been too flattering, with many calling the plot “a drag”, while others saying “too much action, but not enough substance.”

But the lead pair will wear a proud smile at tonight’s red carpet affair in neighbouring Oman, considering the following few days will almost guarantee a bounty at the global box office and the possibility of a sequel in the works.

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