MUMBAI: Nikhil Advani’s multistarrer Salaam-e-Ishq might have opened to mixed reactions, but the film has grossed Rs 500+ million (Rs 50+ crores) world over in its opening weekend.

The movie opened in 1200 screens globally on 25 January, 2007. In the UK, the box office grosses up to Sunday exceeded that of Adlabs’s Krrish and Guru as well as UTV’s Rang De Basanti and Don for the same period.

Salaam-e-Ishq stars Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Salman Khan, John Abraham, Akshaye Khanna, Sohail Khan, Juhi Chawla, Priyanka Chopra, Ayesha Takia, Vidya Balan and Shanon Era.

With over 3.1 billion tickets being sold in India every year and the accelerated growth in multiplex cinemas, which are driving ticket prices up, Bollywood is well and truly sustaining its 21% CAGR growth. As part of its strategy, Eros (which released the movie worldwide) is taking a larger slice of the Indian box office and has set up its own distribution offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

Eros released Salaam-e-Ishq with local language subtitles in markets like Germany, Belgium and Holland through mainstream multiplex chains. This move is in line with the company’s strategy to broaden the audience for Bollywood films beyond the expatriate community.

Eros International Plc director and president India Sunil Lulla said, “We are delighted with the audience response to Salaam-e-Ishq. Our strategy is a combination of leveraging our distribution network and marketing muscle globally and looking for opportunities to open new markets. We remain focused on this core thread of our business and are excited about our release pipeline.”

The company’s other global releases in the pipeline up to April comprises Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya, Vipul Shah’s Namastey London, Amitabh Bachchan starrer Chinni Kum, Aishwarya Rai’s Provoked, John Abraham starrer No Smoking by Anurag Kashyap and India’s first 3D animation film Friends Forever.