UTV's Athidhi opens to overwhelming Box Office in 500 screens across the world

Media News

Mumbai, October 31, 2007

Athidhi, co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Krishna Productions Private Limited opened to record box-office collections across Andhra Pradesh. Starring the young Telugu super star, Mahesh Babu, gross collections for the first week (8 days) is Rs.12.50 crores in Andhra Pradesh. That's the amount collected by Pokhiri (also starring Mahesh Babu), Telugu Film Industry's top grosser to date in over three weeks! . The film will release in Mumbai, Pune & parts of Maharastra in Nov 2, 07.

Athithi released worldwide on 18th October 2007 across 500 screens worldwide of which 352 screens are in Andhra Pradesh (AP). Another innovation from the UTV stable was the trailer of the Telugu version of mega opus Jodhaa Akbar starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar , the forthcoming film from UTVMP was played across 352 screens in Andhra Pradesh(AP). The audiences responded with much clapping and cheering. This is the first time that a dubbed version of a Hindi film has evoked such an overwhelming response!

"The South Indian film market's potential for making the most of sheer star power is something unique. It's a one of its kind in India," says Suneil Wadhwa, EVP Distribution, UTV Motion Pictures "The encouraging response from ATHIDHI provides us with a great opportunity to strengthen our hold in the South."

Athidhi (Guest), an action-drama, revolves round a tough guy with a soft heart, played by the reigning super-star Mahesh Babu, battling out all things unjust and evil with a crusader's zeal. The action sequences shot in a highly stylized fashion form a major highlight of the film. Directed by Surendar Reddy, with Music by Mani Sharma, the film also stars Amrita Rao.

The film was backed by some great marketing tie-ups with brands like such as Thums-UP, Kingfisher, BIG FM for the release of the film. Thums-UP launched branded Athidhi pet bottles, ran a contest during the release of the film. The winner of the contest would be an Athidhi at Mahesh Babu's house. Additionally the film promos were played at the India- Australia cricket match being played at Rajiv Gandhi Uppal stadium at Hyderabad.

For Further Information please contact:

Kesha Mehta

Corporate Communications & PR

UTV

9819837574