First weekend performance of latest release

First things first - there was something strange about the way 3 releases of the Friday gone by were promoted. While DELHII HEIGHTS came from the producers who have a monumental success in the form of Rajnikanth starrer mega-film CHANDRAMUKHI [based on which Priyadarshan is currently filming BHOOL BHULLAIYA], KHANNA & IYER was a Subhash Ghai baby. In spite of two such big names associated with the films, there was hardly any promotion built up.

On the other hand SAY SALAAM INDIA suffered from zero promotion due to new producers behind the film. Result was that none of the three films even took a face saving opening, let alone being appreciated or rejected by critics or 'junta'. In fact doomsday was visible when number of websites/newspapers/publications even failed to carry out a review of SAY SALAAM INDIA and KHANNA & IYER.

To think of it, DELHII HEIGHTS may have been left wondering if it was a good idea for it's review to have come out at all? Because whatever was said about it, there was hardly anything in that could have brought a smile to people involved.

Three debutant directors attempted to make a name for themselves in the film world - Anand Kumar [DH], Subhash Kapoor [SSI] and Hemant Hegde [K&I]. Out of the three, the only person who could be heaving a sigh of relief is Subhash since his film has been criticized mainly for wrong timing [SSI is based on cricket] than anything else. The man has shown promise and made sure that his film would turn out to be a good DVD watch eventually. Talking from box office point of view, each of the 3 films sound like a definite dud and cannot expect a stay at the theaters beyond a fortnight!

Last week's movies

As was visible in the trend for the first week graph of NAMASTE LONDON, the film has fetched good opening numbers. At 15.5 crores, the film is already in the profit zone since the film was sold at a reasonable price. What has certainly worked in it's favor is decent word of mouth (as mentioned in last week's column), India's World Cup exit (night shows and weekends have immensely benefited from this) and last but not the least lack of any competition (none of the 3 releases of last week have made any mark).

Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif have broken the lead pair jinx after the non-performance of HUMKO DEEWANA KAR GAYE while director Vipul Shah has kept his success record intact after AANKHEN and WAQT. While the film is doing well in the entire country, it is tremendous in Delhi [2 crores] and NCR [further 1 crore +]. Mumbai has done decent too with collections in the excess of 2.25 crores while Ahmedabad is good at 75 lakhs. The way film is being patronized, it should see a fall in the range of 30%-40% instead of a conventional 50% fall.

Released at select cinemas across country, THE NAMESAKE has found maximum patronage in it's target center Mumbai from where it boasts of almost 50% collections. Out of the 1.25 crores earned across the country, Mumbai accounts for 60 lakhs which tells the tale. Delhi is second best with 15 lakhs +. Though till last week a lukewarm opening weekend made even these kind of figure look impossible, the current total does indicate that the response to the film isn't in the poor range as was an earlier indication.

From the past

Let's just not blame India's World Cup exit for the debacle of HAT TRICK. The problems were aplenty. Promotion was just not good enough to create any hype whatsoever for the film, music released just 10-12 days before the arrival of the film, there was no concrete idea given to interested filmgoers on what exactly the film was about....the list is really long.

The reason why one is forced to make an extra effort to analyze the fall of a film like this is that director Milan Luthria and writer Rajat Arora had actually come up with a well made film that saw its way down the barrel due to reasons as mentioned above! In the second week, the film crashed completely after a poor first week as it saw a disastrous 80% fall. With mere 70 lakhs coming in, the film has managed to cross 4.5 crore but it looks near impossible that it would be able to touch the 5 crore mark.

JUST MARRIED followed a similar box office pattern as after a 80% fall and 75 lakhs coming in, the film is all but wrapped up at 4 crores. Since the film has been made at low costs, the losses won't be huge but one does feel sorry about Fardeen and Esha since they did come up with a good performance in an average film that hardly found any takers. The film does have its chances in the DVD circuits though.

After a 90% fall in its second week, RED took a 80% fall in the third week to come up with negligible collections of an unmentionable 5 lakhs across the country. The film has been shown a permanent 'red' signal at 3.5 crore. WATER isn't any better as after a 70% fall last week; it suffered another 60% fall with just 10 lakhs coming in. Inching towards the 1.5 crore mark, the film is already out in the 'original' DVD version [though the pirated copies have been out for almost a year].

For the first time since its arrival, HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT. LTD. saw a significant fall though the absence of any other notable film in the running still ensured a place in Top-5 for it. Increasing its total by 25 lakhs to come closer to the 12 crore mark, the film should now be out soon on the DVDs. Mumbai still continues to be the city which is patronizing the movie most though the film has done well in rest of country's major centers too.

On the other hand VIVAH continues to gain from smaller centers with 15 lakhs further added on bring its total to 31.5 crores in its 20th week. The film stands to be a sure shot silver jubilee and now it has to be seen whether it manages to traverse an extra distance.

In the future

Two contrasting films release over this long weekend [Friday is a holiday due to 'Good Friday'] - SHAKALAKA BOOM BOOM and PROVOKED. On an average Friday, an Aishwarya Rai movie would have always been the more hyped, publicized and talked about. But in case of Jag Mundhra directed PROVOKED it is hardly the case as the film's promotion has been quite lukewarm. Add to it a subject that counts as 'serious' amongst regular 'junta' and the film only finds it's target audience as intelligentsia or those who are interested in cinema about real incidents. Even though the film is said to be well made (as per insiders), it is not expected to take a notable start and would rely a lot on post-release promotion and word of mouth.

Suneel Darshan's SLBB has all the trappings of a 'masala' fare and with popular songs to boast and some interesting treatment; it could have been an automatic choice for a very good start. Sadly Bobby Deol is not going though the best phase of his career while Upen Patel is a new arrival which means that in spite of promise of an engrossing fare, the film would be able to take a start only in the average/above average range [50% +]. Nevertheless exciting promos have done the trick and if the film gives good vibes on the opening day, it has all the trappings of a safe venture and a moolah earner since Darshan has mainly targeted city audience for his latest venture.