Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer "Phantom" has opened to good reviews, but the occupancy at the box office tells a different story.
The action drama directed by Kabir Khan has opened to average occupancy in the morning and afternoon shows across India.
"Phantom" helmed by Kabir Khan is an action film based on Hussain Zaidi's book Mumbai Avengers on post-26/11 attacks in Mumbai and global terrorism. The film deals with Indo-Pak relations, but unlike Kabir's last film "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", "Phantom" talks about terrorism.
Kabir's directorial film "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", which was released in July, was also based on Indo-Pak relationship, but on the concept of humanism and thus the film opened to thunderous response and became a commercially successful film.
"Bajrangi Bhaijaan" opened with the highest opening day income of 2015 at the domestic box office and it went on to break several records at the collection centers.
But unfortunately, Kabir's latest release "Phantom" will not have the same fate at the box office like "Bajrangi Bhaijaan". The action drama has opened with approximately 25% occupancy in the morning and afternoon shows.
Since the reviews are good, the occupancy might pick up in the evening and night shows. During the weekends too the film is expected to show growth due to festive period.
"Phantom" might benefit from Onam and Raksha Bandhan holiday in several states on Friday and Saturday.
Meanwhile, the film shows Saif and Katrina doing some hard-core action scenes.
"The action sequences... they are real and not real. A lot of it has military background ...big machine guns and big shootouts. There's a lot of action in the movie but generally it's quite realistic. There was a lot of physical fitness called for," Saif told IANS.
"Diet and exercises (were important), but also some kind of training with the weapons like how to shoot them a little more professionally," he added.
