First weekend performance of latest release

It seemed like advantage U ME AUR HUM on the days leading to the weekend gone by when the Ajay Devgan-Kajol starrer released alongside KRAZZY 4. However, KRAZZY 4 went on to have a better start than U ME AUR HUM and clearly won the opening day battle. On Friday, the comedy/drama by Jaideep Sen took a very good opening and showed full houses at most of the centers, especially in the evening and night shows, hence ensuring that this Rakesh Roshan production would turn out to be a safe venture.

Reasons for a very good start of the film can be attributed to a) comedy promos working well with the audience, b) Hrithik's version of 'Break Free' which turned out to be a rage and c) Last but certainly not the least, the entire Rakesh Roshan-Ram Sampat controversy which did help the film in gaining mileage all over.

Though word of mouth has been mostly in decent range, KRAZZY 4 is now set to be a winner and would at the least turn out to be an above average performer.

On the other hand U ME AUR HUM took a decent start but not the kind which makes a film being termed as safe. Fortunately, the film was appreciated by most who saw it while the reviews were mostly favorable as well which meant that on Saturday and Sunday, the film did show good pick up. Since the film has been released with relatively lesser number of prints, it doesn't belong to the kind for which the verdict can be out based on the opening weekend rush. The film would have to be monitored closely for it's stable performance for at least 3 weeks before a clear box office status can be attributed to it.

Last week's movies

SHAURYA, KHUDA KAY LIYE and BHRAM were the three films which released over the weekend gone by and each of them met with diverse box office response. Let's talk about BHRAM first. Frankly, no even knew that a) a film with a title like this existed, b) what was the star cast of the film and c) if BHRAM was even released. Such low was the buzz on the film in spite of names like Nari Hira and Dino Morea involved that this reasonably decent film couldn't even gather face saving collections. Result? The film turned out to be one of the biggest disasters of 2008 with mere 40 lakhs coming in. A complete non-performer.

KHUDA LAY LIYE, which released at half the number of prints when compared to BHRAM, gathered 70 lakhs at the box office. Though this too isn't a great performance by any means for this film from Pakistan, at the least it has managed to succeed in getting some reasonable collections from select multiplexes. With face saving collections to boast, KHUDA LAY LIYE would have to show similar performance for at least one more week before being termed as a profit making ventures for it's investors.

Same holds good for SHAURYA which in spite of all the publicity and good reviews had to be satisfied with only around 1.5 crores. Yes, these are face saving collections but again not the kind which mark the film as a success. With all eyes being set on U ME AUR HUM and KRAZZY and TASHAN to follow, the film would have to now expect good eyeballs from DVD sales!

From the past

Strange are the ways of Bollywood as it continues to throw surprises. This time around it is thankfully a pleasant one since industry has only gone richer by a few crores, courtesy ONE TWO THREE. Of course, the film did have numerous funny moments to ensure that it did strike a chord with it's target audience but the way it has performed in the fortnight gone by has only brought smiles on the faces of everyone associated with the project.

If 12 crores coming in the first week were not good enough, the second week sustained quite well as well in spite of numerous people from the industry continuing to bad mouth this Aswani Dheer film and the first week's collections being termed as a fluke. The film took a reasonable fall - 55% - and added another 5.5 crores to it's total, hence bringing ONE TWO THREE to 17 crores mark. The film earned approximately 1 crore more in Mumbai while Delhi brought in 50 lakhs.

With 20 crores destined to come in the film's kitty, it is an above average flick at the least. Though the film is made of an ensemble cast, Tusshar Kapoor would benefit most out of it since ONE TWO THREE has turned out to be yet another comic success for the actor who has three more films belonging to the same genre lined up for release in the remainder of the year.

RACE continued to dominate from the top for third straight week as it fell by 50% and in the process gained another 8 crores approximately. With collections coming close to 59 crores, the film is all set to meet the 65 crores milestone before it ends it's run, hence turning out to be the biggest money-spinner of 2008 so far. The film worked well in Mumbai yet again with 85 lakhs more coming in while Delhi topped 50 lakhs. Ultimately RACE has turned out to be a huge success, hence making it a huge double bill for UTV who now would be proud of achievements of both their films this year - JODHAA AKBAR and RACE!

Coming to JODHAA AKBAR, the film did see a little over 50% fall but 60 lakhs more added to it's total meant that the 62 crores milestone was crossed. Though there is not much addition expected to it's total in weeks to follow, rest assured the film would be in news courtesy airing of it's deleted scenes on UTV's own movie channel.

In the future

Since TASHAN arrives next week, there was no 'hope' for any other film to be released at theaters this Friday. This is why it is more or less a 'hopeless' case for stuck-in-the-cans-and-finally-releasing English film by Tanuja Chandra - HOPE AND A LITTLE SUGAR - which is arriving sans any fanfare. No, Mahima Chaudhary would have to look at some other film is she is dreaming of a comeback!