MUMBAI: The Hindi film industry has had enough reason to pop the bubbly in the first half of 2010 going by the box office performance of a handful of movies.

Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti has had a tremendous opening weekend, which is second only to 3 Idiots. The movie did net business of Rs 340 million (Rs 34 crore) in its opening weekend as compared to 3 Idiots’ Rs 405 million (Rs 40.50 crore). As was earlier reported by Businessofcinema.com, Raajneeti collected Rs 105 million on Friday and Rs 110 million on Saturday. Sunday’s net collections stand at a whopping Rs 125 million (Rs 12.50 crore).

Earlier this year, movies like My Name Is Khan, Housefull and Kites have all had superb opening weekend numbers. While My Name Is Khan’s opening weekend net figures stand at approximately Rs 300 million, Housefull pocketed Rs 310 million in the first three days, followed by Kites’ Rs 305 million. It may be recalled that Ghajini’s net collections record of Rs 295 million in its opening weekend in 2008 was broken by 3 Idiots at the fag end of 2009. However, 2010 has been a different story altogether as four movies – My Name Is Khan, Housefull, Kites and now Raajneeti – have broken Ghajini’s opening weekend record.

With the release of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Raavan round the corner, it’s only a matter of time until more records are broken. Overall, this is definitely a positive sign for the Hindi film industry after a lackluster 2009.