Dostana rocks overseas, gives competition to 'Quantum Of Solace'

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) After leaving the Indian audiences 'rollicking in the aisles'' with their hilarious 'Gay Act', the brilliant comic timing of Bollywood heartthrob Abhishek Bachchan and hunk John Abraham and their excellent camaraderie in 'Dostana' has swept overseas audiences off their feet, giving the film one of the biggest openings for Bollywood films overseas this year.

Released worldwide on Novemvber 14, 'Dostana' has rocked the overseas box office, especially the United Kingdom and the United States, giving tough competition to even the latest Bond film 'Quantum of Solace', trade sources said.

In the UK, the film, directed by debutant Tarun Mansukhani, opened to an overwhelming response, figuring on the sixth position on the UK top ten in its opening weekend.

This Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra-starrer collected 341,665 British pounds (approximately Rs 2 crore) during its opening weekend in UK from 43 screens. The film figured on the UK top ten, ahead of Hollywood films like 'Igor' and 'East Virtue' and was surpassed only by new Hollywood films 'Max Payne' and 'Zack And Miri Make A Porno'.

What was remarkable was that 'Dostana' had a per screen average of 7,946 pounds, which was second only to 9,407 pounds of 'Quantum Of Solace'.

The UK opening of 'Dostana' is among the biggest openings for a Bollywood film in UK this year.

Infact, in terms of screen average, it's the third biggest opener of 2008, after 'Race' (9,941 pounds) and 'Singh Is Kinng' (9,866 pounds) and has got a bigger opening than the Aishwarya Rai-Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Jodha Akbar', which had collections of 7,907 pounds in its opening week.

In the United States too, it's amongst the biggest openers of this year. The film opened at number 16 in the US with collections of 645,604 dollars (approximately Rs 3.20 crore) in its opening week from just 74 cinema screens.

In the US, it had a per screen average of 8724 US dollars.

The Karan Johar produced film was the second highest new entry of the week In the US, surpassed only by the Bond film 'Quantum Of Solace'.

In Australia too, the film was at number 13 in its opening weekend with collections of 1,36,525 Australian dollars (approx Rs 43.88 lakh) on 11 screens, with the per screen average working out to 12,411 Australian dollars.

In West Asia too, 'Dostana' has been one of the biggest openers of the year among Bollywood films.

It has also done very well in Pakistan, where it began screening from Sunday in four cinema halls in Lahore after the Lahore High Court lifted the ban placed on the film by the Censor Board and gave a go-ahead for provisional screening in four cinemas of Lahore.

Trade sources say the film has grossed a whopping Rs 28 crore from India in its opening week.

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