British film Slumdog Millionaire managed the rare feat of increasing its takings and shooting to the Box Office top spot in its second week of release.

Nielsen EDI, the industry body that monitors figures said it was the most successful second weekend ever recorded for a film that had not substantially increased the number of cinemas it was screening at.

Box office receipts from this weekend alone stood at £2.6 million, with its total takings now at £6.1 million. The Guardian called it the UK’s “biggest ever sleeper hit”.

Most films see their takings fall between 30% – 50% on the second week, however Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire jumped by 44% overall.

The new Bollywood film From Chandni Chowk To China has grossed £274,950 across 61 screens so far.

Controversy over how its regarded in India also refused to die down, as Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan said his words were being twisted out of context. He was cited last week as having criticised Slumdog Millionaire on his blog.

He had said earlier: “If SM projects India as [a] Third World dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations. It’s just that the SM idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative [Golden] Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not.”

This week he dismissed criticism by saying: “What a colossal joke this is all turning out to be! Without reading the text of my blog or the purpose behind mention of ‘SlumDog’ an entire machinery of abuse has been directed towards me.”

He added: “Fact is – some one mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against. And yes, they contained some strong assumptions. I merely put both of them up and invited debate.”