In an industry where woman-centric films are looked down upon at the box-office, Vidya Balan's 'The Dirty Picture' has opened to a thunderous response. Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture has opened to a mind-blowing response at the box office. The film has certainly been 'hot' property but the business seems to have exceeded the expectations of the makers as well. Occupancy in most theatres was as good as 80%-90% on day one. And this despite the fact that the film is largely woman-oriented and without any big male stars other than Emraan Hashmi.

A trade expert says, "There is a usual perception that woman-oriented films don't work in Bollywood but The Dirty Picture has changed it. The potent combination of sex and story is working to its merit". Producer Ekta Kapoor had promoted the film widely and the film had good face-value despite not being of the big budget varieties. That helped the film get a good initial. Business is only expected to grow in the coming days.

Another fact is that the first day collections of The Dirty Picture seems stronger than most recent big-budget releases like Rockstar and Desi Boyz despite the fact that the film has comparatively released on lesser number of screens. Early estimates indicate day one collections is around Rs 9-10 crores.

In fact the buzz in trade circles is that Vidya Balan has turned out to be a bigger money-spinner than her costar in the film Emraan Hashmi who has been enjoying a steady spate of hits at the box-office. Emraan Hashmi last release Murder 2 opened big but The Dirty Picture seems to have opened bigger. Stay tuned till the final figures are revealed my Monday.