You cannot compare Sonam Kapoor's Neerja to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, suggests trade expert!

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The actress has evolved over the years and is set to do better in the coming years…

Sonam Kapoor is riding high on the success of Neerja and with the film continuing to perform well at the domestic box office, it seems that this might be the biggest film of her career till date. While this wasn’t the first film which was marketed with her face, Neerja has been the most successful one. The last film which was marketed with her name – Dolly Ki Doli had a first weekend collection of Rs 10.75 crore, while Neerja had an opening weekend of Rs 22.01 crore. The other film marketed on her name, Khoobsurat and Aisha also earned Rs 10.25 crore and Rs 10.30 crore during the first weekend respectively. Apart from box office collections, the film’s content has been a winner too.

As our trade expert, exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi mentioned, “Yes, Neerja did have a better opening than Dolly Ki Doli but it is based on the feel and the merit of the content. In the case of Dolly Ki Doli, the content wasn’t as acclaimed or as appealing as Neerja. Also the critics weren’t as kind to Dolly Ki Doli, as they were for this film. On top of that, the word of mouth for Neerja is absolutely phenomenal as compared to a Dolly Ki Doli or a Khoobsurat or an Aisha. Add to that the patriotic flavour and the mood of the nation on the fact that the story is about a brave daughter of India, which is waiting to be told. All these factors came together to give Neerja such a great weekend collection, rather than just Sonam Kapoor.”

However, Sonam Kapoor‘s choices have evolved over the years and that’s why she has achieved so much. Akshaye added, “I think her choice of films has evolved. While I am not taking away anything from Aisha or Dolly Ki Doli, Neerja always had a much better appeal and much better scope and potential to get acclaim as well as do commercially well. That certainly payed off and brought in the numbers that Neerja had at the box office.”

But can you compare her performance in Neerja to that in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo? Akshaye revealed, “Obviously you can’t compare Neerja with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, because the latter has an entity called Salman Khan which changes the equation entirely. Her role in both the films is also different and the characters are also different, considering that she has done very well. However in Neerja, Sonam will get more appreciation because in PRDP, everyone from the audience was focusing on the fact that Salman Khan and Sooraj Barjatiya are coming together after so long, but here the full film was on the shoulders of Sonam Kapoor and therefore, the success of Neerja will be attributed way more to Sonam Kapoor compared to what happened in the case of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.”

Check out Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja trailer in the video below:

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