Many assumed that the India-Pakistan match would hinder the Sunday weekend collections of the newly released films.
But surprisingly, after the match, the collections of Couple Friendly were quite good, with above average to houseful shows in many theatres.
The reason is being attributed to the Shivaratri jagaram, as many people preferred to stay awake late into the night and head to cinemas.
However, this effect did not work for Funky. The negative reviews seem to have impacted its Shivaratri collections.
Seetha Payanam also failed to gain much traction. Another surprise was the small film Nilave. Despite having just one screen, it recorded a houseful for the late night show on Sunday.
Overall, even though the impact of the Ind-Pak match was felt for some time, the festive night of Shiva Rathri helped the films recover later.
Among all the releases, Couple Friendly clearly showed its strength over the weekend, and it remains to be seen how well it sustains during the weekdays from Monday.