First weekend performance of latest release

There are cheers all around when a film makes a loud announcement and turns out to be a success. Heavy gloom sets on when obituaries are written for a high profile film if it fails to take off on the first day itself. But isn't it worse when there is sheer indifference to the release of a film with hardly many being surprised/concerned/disappointed about a film's success or failure?

No one would have thought that AAJA NACHLE would fall under such a category but this has actually happened:

- The film took a below average to poor start but there wasn't a case of national outrage, as was the case of SAAWARIYA when it did something similar on it's first Monday.
- The film didn't quite boast of flattering reviews except for Madhuri getting all the stars for her film but there were still no debates.
- The film invited some controversy and it died down pronto but no one seemed to care at all about it at all

The film is now all set to go down as the lowest grosser of Yash Raj Films this year, even less than a LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG or a JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM. Disappointing!

Meanwhile what happened to the second release of the week i.e. Atul Kulkarni-Rituparna Sengupta starrer GAURI - THE UNBORN? Well, if the killer reviews accounting for a single star rating everywhere were not enough, the empty halls were more horrifying than the subject itself. A waiting-to-be-termed box office disaster.

Last week's movies

GOAL seems to be in a strange situation! It has turned out to be a success with the audience but somehow majority of media is still waiting to acknowledge this fact. Ok, so no one is calling it a failure; they can't since the writing is clear on the wall with good word of mouth ensuring a good first week. But when collections close to 11 crores are declared by the producers themselves, why shouldn't there be celebrations for all associated with the film? For a medium budget film like GOAL, 11 crores has been a good enough figure to ensure an average status at the least.

With 2.5 crores from Mumbai and 1.35 crores from Delhi, this made-for-urban-audience film has done well with it's target audience. Director Vivek Agnihotri, whose last film CHOCOLATE was panned by most reviews and had been a disappointment at the box office in spite of being a well made film, now has a success in hand. John Abraham, who really wanted to leave 2007 with a smile after NO SMOKING would indeed do so with his on/off screen lady love Bipasha Basu. Meanwhile Ashad Warsi and Boman Irani would have one more reason to celebrate a good 2007. What else would the team of GOAL want?

From the past

OM SHANTI OM is now all set to be the biggest box office spinner of all times. With 11 crores more coming in it's third week, the film now sits at 76 crores which means that the DHOOM 2 record is all set to be broken within 2-3 weeks. The film has surpassed expectations in a big way and in spite of a huge second week behind it, it has taken ~ 60% fall. Mumbai still reads a huge 1.75 crores while Delhi continues to be impressive at 1 crores +.

SAAWARIYA continues to be thrown down the barrel and suffers another 75% + fall. With collections refusing to touch the 1 crore mark in spite of coming close, it should be a complete no-show from this point on. In fact not even a single center has touched the 10 lakh mark in the week gone by. The film is inching towards the 25 crores mark but won't get further far from there. Guess what next would Sanjay Leela Bhansali be contemplating from this point on? A revenge drama, may be!

JAB WE MET? Aaah...now this happens to be my favorite point of conversations in the current times! Ok, so everyone knew that OM SHANTI OM would be huge success (it has achieved a blockbuster status is a different matter altogether though!). There were doubts whether SAAWARIYA would indeed run well. And then GOAL was looking like one of those films which will come, do some decent business and leave without making any pretensions of being a classic.

But JAB WE MET? Now where did this one come from? Out of nowhere this Imtiaz Ali film arrived and it's run at the box office defines what a dream run should look like! The film continues to be one of the top favorites even after 5 weeks in the running and the result is that in spite of whatever kind of competition from the past or present, the fall it takes is less than 25%! Astonishing! With close to a couple of crores yet again, the film now stands at 27 crores. Since multiplexes are still running the film in 3/4/5 shows, a 30 crores total is a given!

Manwhile BHOOL BHULAIYAA has completed 50 days at the box office but is still refusing to be discontinued. Even though the DVDs of the film are out, last week brought another 30 lakhs and the total collections read close to 53.75 crores, BHOOL BHULAIYAA may still continue to run at a few centers until Akshay's last release of 2007 - WELCOME arrives on 21st December.

In the future

After a disappointment in AAJA NACHLE, audience would now be having high hopes on DUS KAHANIYAAN which comes from the house of Sanjay Gupta. There seems to be apprehensions though (which should be sorted out before the Friday comes to an end) - a) No one is quite sure how would a 10 story format fit in 2 hours 30 minutes and b) Audience still hasn't forgotten the misadventures of something like this being tried in DARNA MANA HAI and DARNA ZAROORI HAI. However, the film looks like a sure shot quality product and by the time the first few shows of the film come to a close, the word of mouth should ensure a safe run.

KHOYA KHOYA CHAND is also not expected to open on a tremendous note. Anything more than a 40-50% should be a bonus though it is unlikely that Friday would throw such figures. Quality of overall product aided by word of mouth has to be tremendous for a clear passage of this Sudhir Mishra film.