First weekend performance of latest release

If not for expected super success of 'Don - The Chase Begins Again' and 'Jaan-e-Mann', September and October would have gone down as disastrous months for Bollywood. With an exception of 2-3 films [Pyaar Ke Side Effects, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Woh Lamhe] turning out to be successes and 'Lagey Raho Munnabhai' continuing its deadly run, as many as 15-20 films have released and flopped.

6 movies released last week and though there were slim chances that 'Zindaggi Rocks' may at least make some noise, if not rock at the box office, none of that actually happened. The film took a poor start, along with other small flicks like 'Jaana - Let's Fall In Love', 'Iqrar - By Chance', 'Mera Dil Leke Dekkho', 'Bhoot Unkle' and 'Gafla'. The poor response to 'Zindaggi Rocks' was not really unexpected since the film came at a time when people are just not in the mood to walk to the theatres before October 20th. Performances were expected to be good but there was simply no craze amongst the audience. Each of the remaining 5 films had some common factors. They were 1) delayed, 2) low on hype, 3) had zero starcast (with an exception of 'Bhoot Unkle' where Jackie was at his disinterested best), 4) poorly promoted, 5) saw sparse release and 6) above all, were low on substance. Naturally the audience simply shied away.

Last week's movies

Out of the 4 releases of last Friday, only 'Woh Lamhe' managed to survive. Though the film had number of factors in its favor - it came from Vishesh Films banner, starred successful 'jodi' of Shiney and Kangana [Gangster], boasted of hit music by Pritam, had Mohit Suri ['Zeher' and 'Kalyug'] at the helm and generated some timely hype about Mahesh Bhatt and Parveen Babi - it didn't really take the kind of start it deserved. The film did open to encouraging reviews but as has been repeated time and again, its timing wasn't all that perfect. As a result, the film managed to collect 4 crores in the first week, though it deserved a little better. As expected, Mumbai was best with a contribution of 80 lakhs with Delhi following it by some distance [50 lakhs]. The film is safe due to its low price and has good scope in DVD circuit and satellite channels, but theatrically it seems like an average earner at the maximum. Nevertheless, Mohit Suri can boast to be one of the rare directors to have his first three films working at the box office with each of them belonging to a different genre as an icing on the cake.

Coming to 'Krishna' and 'Jai Santoshi Maa', one had expected the latter to work slightly better since its namesake film released in the 70s boasts of being one of the biggest super-hits of all time. Surprisingly in 2006, the film finds itself crashing in a big way with just over 15 lakhs coming in its first week. One of the biggest disasters of the year. 'Krishna' was a little better, though strictly on relative terms, because even it had collections just in the tune of 50 lakhs.

From the past

'Rocky - The Rebel' has turned out to be the biggest disaster ever for Zayed Khan as it takes a 90% drop in the second week and is practically out of the theatres now. With only 20 lakhs more coming in, the film has just about managed to cross 1.5 crore.

Despite glowing reviews all over, 'Dor' didn't really do any promising business in the second week. Though the fall (40%) was less than industry standard of 50%, it still wasn't an encouraging sign since the first week itself generated a little above 1 crore. The film now has a total of 1.5 crores but with collections falling fast (with only Mumbai being the best at 20 lakhs), this well made film by Nagesh Kukunoor would have to find solace in the satellite/DVD circuits.

'Khosla Ka Ghosla' has turned out to be a dark horse as it held on quite well in the second week and got home above 1 crore with only a 30% drop. This is now second 'veteran' success of the year after 'Malamaal Weekly' [Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Asrani]. Made at a shoestring budget, this Anupam Kher-Boman Irani film is now a little below 3 crores and is an above average success.

'Pyaar Ke Side Effects' is maintaining its decent run with a third week total of another crore. This teen film now boasts of a 7 crore total and is an above average success already. PNC has taken a good step of unleashing the DVDs/VCDs on stands when the going is strong for the film!

While numerous medium and small budget films have come and gone recently, 'Naksha' still managed to get home another 25 lakhs odd. Though a total of 10.5 crore is not that bad considering the film was seen more at single screens than multiplexes, the status of this costly film would still show as a flop.

Now after a grim report card as above, some good news! 'Lagey Raho Munnabhai' continues to be rocking and is a super-duper hit allover. The film has managed to break the 60 crore barrier, a feat that was met only by 'Krrish' in the current year. The graph of the film excellent since it has done so in just 5 weeks with (believe it or not) just 20% fall! With further 6 crores in its kitty, LRM enjoyed yet another 1 crore plus week in Mumbai followed by Delhi that stood at 80 lakhs. The film is all set to break the total of 'Krrish' considering that none of the releases this week have worked at the box office and next week is an open battlefield to make a killing!

In the future

Thankfully good sense has prevailed and none of the film makers have plans to release their films before the October 20th weekend. That's because even if they do, the prints would be sent back in a week flat with both 'Don' and 'Jaan-e-mann' coming up with phenomenal number of prints. There are slim chances though that 'Utthan' [Priyanshu Chatterjee - Neha Dhupia] may release but if that happens, it is a guaranteed non-starter!