Ramayana Blog

Controversies notwithstanding, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “My Name Is Khan” has gone on to rake in around Rs 250 million (about $5.3 million) across the globe on the opening day.

Directed by Karan Johar, “My Name is Khan” was released on Friday.

“We are delighted with the performanceand audience reactions across demographics. More so, because this isonly phase one of the film release,” Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox StarStudios India, the Indian distributors of the film, said in a statement.

“In addition to the release across 45 countries, MNIK will be rolledout in a phased manner across 25 non-traditional markets from Aprilonwards.”

The film features Shah Rukh as Rizvan Khan who embarks on a journeyacross America to win back the love of his life, played by Kajol. Itshows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many andinspires a nation.

The movie is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star in India, inthe US by its sister company Fox Searchlight and in the rest of theworld by parent group 20th Century Fox International.

In New Zealand, the opening day collection was about $9,727 while inthe Middle-East, the movie is already 50 percent higher than any otherprevious film in Bollywood with the earning estimated at $300,000.

There’s also a huge demand for additional prints in the existingchains across the Middle East and the print count is expected toincrease to around 60 by next week.

According to Fox, the film also will be released in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Lebanon in the coming week.

In terms of paid previews, the movie earned about $193,000 from 89sites in Britain, which is said to be the highest for a single-daypreview there. In Australia Thursday, paid previews collected around$34,000 and it ranked number 11.