Ghosts seem to have brought good luck to Akshay Kumar. The superstar’s recent release, Bhooth Bangla, earned Rs 55 crore over the opening weekend. The horror comedy’s success comes after a series of lukewarm outings for the actor. “This is a good [figure] for Akshay because his past 10-15 films hadn’t done well,” Rajasthan-based exhibitor Raj Bansal told mid-day.

According to the exhibitor, the success boils down to two factors — Kumar’s command over the genre, and his winning partnership with director Priyadarshan. “Akshay was doing the wrong films. Either he should do an action film or a comedy. This time, he chose the right script. Also, Priyadarshan knows how to extract a good performance from Akshay,” said Bansal. He added that the drop in collections on Monday “is understandable”.

Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar have ‘Haiwaan’, also starring Saif Ali Khan, lined up

Trade analyst Komal Nahta had a different take on the drop in collections after the weekend. “Saturday and Sunday’s [numbers] don’t say much about the film, because we’ve had a major release five weeks after Dhurandhar 2. So, it was bound to open well. But on Monday, it’s back to where it belongs. The film will wrap [its run] soon,” he said.