The sequel to 2011’s Tanu Weds Manu – Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR) has had a dream run at the
box office and became the highest grossing film of 2015 in terms of its first week collections. The film
officially crossed the 100 crore mark within a week of its release. Despite strong opposition from big
banner films like Dil Dhadakne Do, Humari Adhuri Kahani, ABCD 2 and the fantasy drama Jurassic World,
there seems to be no stoppage on the revenues that TWMR is raking.
TWMR is one of those very few films that have opened to a full house at both the single screen theaters
and the multiplexes, and have garnered raving reviews. The cast and the crew are gushing with all the
glory. The business that the film has made and is still making came as a pleasant surprise to the actors,
the director and the producer, owing to the fact that it is a ‘small’ film with a not so starry cast.
TWMR boasts of a quirky and yet real storyline and is punched with even quirkier yet lovable music. It
circum-navigates on the journey of rediscovering love between a married couple and features Kangana
Ranaut in a double role. The film has a supporting cast of Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara
Bhaskar, Eijaz Khan, Rajesh Sharma and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub. The supporting actors are class
apart. They have held on their own and concocted a frame for themselves.
Ranaut, through her prowess as an actor and show stealer has proved that one doesn’t necessarily need
to be a Khan to take the box office over by a storm. She has already replaced Deepika Padukone as the
‘box office queen’. In this make-believe world of gossamer films, a flick like TWMR is a balmy relief. It
never deviates from the path of a mainstream ‘masala’ flick, yet it imparts the verisimilitude of life.
The word-of-mouth for TWMR grew from strength to strength and it collected Rs. 101.67 crore
worldwide at the end of its first week and was declared a “blockbuster” by trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
Made on a meager budget, the film earned another Rs. 76.67 crore at the end of its second week. The
film completed its four week run at the domestic box office, grossing Rs. 145 crore, hence earning the
tag of an “all time blockbuster”. TWMR is a shining example of how the script can be a hero and help a
film generate a profit heap at the box office. It is now journeying towards the Rs. 150 crore club at the
domestic sphere.
NDTV has declared Tanu Weds Manu Returns as “the first blockbuster film, first Rs. 200 crore worldwide
grosser and first Rs. 100 crore film of 2015.”
— Titas Chowdhury.
