Vijay Krishna Acharya’s incontrovertible blockbuster Dhoom 3 which was expected to break the records of the two highest grossers Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots and Rohit Shetty’s Chennai Express is unlikely to reach the unprecedented Rs 300-crore mark. Over its third weekend Dhoom 3 has collected Rs 3.30 crore on Friday and Rs 3.70 crore on Saturday, bringing the smash-hit film’s total collections to Rs 266 crore. Film producer and trade analyst Prakash Jaju says the Rs 300-crore target now looks doubtful. “This coming Friday there are two releases Abhishek Choubey’s Dedh Ishqiya and T Series’ Yaariyan. The number of screens available to Dhoom 3 would be substantially diminished. I think the total box office collections of Dhoom 3 would end on Rs 295 crore....just missing the 300-crore mark, sadly.” Trade analyst Amod Mehra too feels Dhoom 3 would miss the record-breaking 300-crore mark. “Given the current scenario when films are released on so many screens a film rarely sustains beyond the first two weeks. Until Saturday Dhoom 3 has collected Rs 263 crore. It should collect another Rs 15 crore during the rest of this week. That would bring the aggregate collections to around Rs275-78 crore. The balance to reach Rs 300 crore seems doubtful.” Trade expert Taran Adarsh agrees. “I think 275-plus crore seems a far more realistic figure than Rs 300 crore. However everything depends on how this Friday’s releases—Dedh Ishqiya and Yaariyan -are received. However Dhoom 3 has emerged the highest grosser ever in the domestic market already and will soon emerge the highest-grossing Bollywood film in the international market as well.”