MUMBAI: Following on the heels of the good collections by Sajid Nadiadwala‘s Housefull last weekend, there‘s some cheer at the Bollywood box-office this week too.

While Housefull continued to pull in audiences, the Parmeet Sethi-helmed and Shahid Kapoor-starrer Badmash Company from Yash Raj Films grossed Rs 135 million as the weekend ended.

Apparently, the film had a relatively slower first day but then gathered momentum over the next two days as word-of-mouth helped the film attract audiences to both the single-screens and multiplexes.

Says Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur, "The film opened better than expected especially for two reasons; first, it is a Yash Raj film and secondly, it is a Shahid Kapoor starrer. The opening weekend was good, given the fact that the film has tremendous youth appeal and that in turn witnessed in the youth turning out in huge numbers. The film will hopefully do even better in the whole first week."

Meanwhile, Gurinder Chadha‘s It‘s A Wonderful Afterlife (Hai Mar Jawaan! in Hindi), the second release of the week, has had a disastrous start at the box-office, notwithstanding the fact that the film boasts the presence of Shabana Azmi.

"On Sunday, the English version of the film did decent business, garnering around 40 to 50 per cent footfalls while the Hindi one fared very poorly," avers Kapur.

Housefull, which ended its first week with a worldwide box-office of Rs 950 million, continued with its good run into its second weekend. An industry observer points out that collections were between Rs 100-120 million just in India. "The film has been doing pretty well," he says. "The film, already a hit, is destined to be a big grosser."

Bollywood has had a run of bad luck with nearly 17 films bombing or doing less than average business since My Name is Khan was released in January. Housefull was the first film to break that run. And now with Badmaash Company also notching up a success, trade observers are happy that good times are back again.