MUMBAI: The Amitabh Bachchan starrer Paa managed to raise enough curiosity among the public before its release. With Bachchan donning a completely different avatar in the film, there was a lot of interest among the public to go and watch the film.

While the movie opened to a dull response on Friday and took in net collections of Rs 20 million (Rs 2 crore), it managed to pick up on Saturday and Sunday to end the weekend with net collections of Rs 110 million (Rs 11 crore). The movie did a net business of Rs 90 million (Rs 9 crore) on Saturday and Sunday across India. On Friday, the occupancy levels at multiplexes were in the range of 35 – 40 per cent. However, the response at single screens was poor.

The film is directed by R Balakrishnan and also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan.

Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, Fun Cinema COO Vishal Kapur said, “The film has done fairly well and over the weekend we are expecting around 50% occupancy.”

Inox Leisure vice president programming and distribution Utpal Acharya said, “The film has done very well in the metros while it is picking up in the smaller centers. People are very positive about the film because of which, we are expecting it to pick up well by mouth publicity.”

On the other hand, Himesh Reshammiya starrer Radio has had a dismal opening with around 10- 15% occupancy. Some theaters like Fun Cinemas did not even play the movie in many of their properties. Kapur added, “It’s more of a morning show kind of film. The film has not done good business.”

Radio stars Reshammiya and Shenaz Treasuryvala in the lead roles and is directed by Isshaan Trivedi.