Apne Swepts Overseas Audiences Off Their Feet

After leaving cinegoers across India ”moist eyed” with their ”heart warming” presence in Apne, the strong bond of love and togetherness between the yesteryears’ matinee idol Dharmendra and his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol has also swept overseas audiences off their feet.

Having won box office success and critical acclaim galore at home, this ode to the deep bond of love and togetherness between Dharmendra and his sons Sunny and Bobby, has rocked the box office in various overseas markets.

‘Apne’, which has yesteryears’ Bollywood idol Dharmendra team up with his sons Sunny and Bobby for the first time on the Silver screen, has drawn in huge audiences in the US, Canada and the United Kingdom, becoming the first Bollywood film featuring Dharmendra or Sunny to make a mark overseas.

Released on June 29 all over the world, ‘Apne’ made it to the top ten on the box office charts in the United Kingdom in its opening weekend, figuring on the seventh position among the top ten films.

‘Apne’, had box office earnings of 179,457 UK pounds (Rs 1.5 crore) in its opening weekend on 41 cinema screens.

‘Apne’ figured on the chart alongside Hollywood blockbusters like ‘Shrek the Third’, ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’, ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End’.

What is further remarkable about the film’s box office performance in the UK is that ‘Apne’ had the second best per screen average of 4,377 UK pounds (Rs 3.5 lakh) among the UK top ten films, behind only ‘Shrek-The Third’ (which had a per screen average of 31,103 UK pounds).

The place in the UK top ten makes ‘Apne’ the first film featuring Dharmendra or his son Sunny to earn this distinction.

The film also attracted packed crowds in cinema halls in the United States, Canada and Australia.

In Australia the film has earnings of Rs 10 lakh in the opening weekend.

Trade sources said hundreds of fans of Dharmendra and Sunny in the Canadian city of Vancouver had to return disappointed after they failed to get a ticket to the premiere show of ‘Apne’, held on June 30.

Dharmendra was given a lifetime achievement award by DBR Entertainment while the Punjabi newspaper Quami Ekta honoured him for his contributions to the Indian cinema.

Featuring the three Deols along with Kiron Kher , Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif as their leading ladies, ‘Apne’ is the story of a disgraced boxer (Dharmendra) who wants to get back his honour by making his elder son (Sunny) a boxer of international repute.

However, ultimately it is the younger son (Bobby) who steps in to fulfill his father’s dream when the elder one refuses to become a boxer.