MUMBAI: From almost getting banned to almost getting tax-free status, the new John Abraham-starrer ‘Madras Cafe’ has seen it all. But for a political thriller, ‘Madras Cafe’ has managed to bag strong numbers for its opening week.

The Shoojit Sircar-directed ‘Madras Cafe’ earned close to Rs 3.29 million (Rs 32.91 crore) net in its first week . Considering ‘Chennai Express’ is still creating havoc everywhere, this is only good news, especially considering this is a smaller film with smaller stars and a topic that India as an audience does not generally warm up to.

As previously reported, ‘Madras Cafe’ had a decent first day of about Rs 49.7 million (Rs 4.97 crore) net, on Friday, 23 August. By opening weekend the film had garnered a respectable Rs 203.3 million (Rs 20.33 crore) net.

It could be counter-programming at play here that has helped ‘Madras Cafe’. Going against films like ‘Chennai Express’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara’, which are commercial potboilers, the audience that loves its serious and non-commercial movies would easily watch this. And there’s no doubting too that word-of-mouth has helped immensely.

The real test will begin today as Prakash Jha’s ‘Satyagraha’ has released. It bears no commercial ambitions, just like ‘Madras Cafe’ but has the big names. Will ‘Madras Cafe’ stay afloat another week? Let’s wait and watch!