First weekend performance of latest release

No, it just isn't working out for Yash Raj Films any more! At least not with the current crop of films coming out of the premier production house which may just loose it's shine if it's subsequent projects in the remainder of the year do not work! THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC was looking dicey ever since it's first promo was unleashed. As days progressed, there was hardly any increment in craze for the film amongst the audience and the result was there for all to see with the film taking only around 50% opening, as predicted in the last week's columns.

So what went wrong with the opening of the film? Well, it was not the film per se but the downslide that YRF has been seeing ever since the beginning of last year. Except for CHAK DE INDIA and to some extent TA RA RUM PUM, nothing else has brought any commercial or critical acclaim for the production house. As a result of this, expectations from audience has reached such a low over the period of time that that the 'guaranteed opening' tag which YRF films used to bring along with them have gradually disappeared.

This is why it is even more heartbreaking for this Kunal Kohli directed film since by itself it is not a bad outing at all. The reviews have been by and large decent while word of mouth too hasn't been negative at all. Still, an all important opening has missed the mark in a big way and chances of collections picking up over the second weekend doesn't look feasible as well due to arrival of two big films - LOVE STORY 2050 and JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA. Until and unless at least one of the two new films is really bad and tanks within it's opening weekend, revival for THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC looks really unlikely!

As for THODI LIFE THODA MAGIC and VIA DARJEELING, no one seemed to care at all. From the former there were zilch expectations and all around pathetic reviews meant that the film is limping to even complete a one week run. On the other hand VIA DARJEELING has been completely ignored and though it was expected that AAMIR like reviews may result in some resurgence for the film, that wasn't the case to be since the film wasn't talked about at all. This one would be seeing a quick DVD release.

Last week's movies

HAAL E DIL has bombed, KHUSHBOO has been one of the Top-3 non-performers of the year while DE TAALI has barely managed to give itself a chance for turning out to be a break even preposition - Now that's the fate of the three films targeted mainly at youngsters that released last week.

When a film's producer accepts that his film has failed in the opening weekend itself and one of the leads publicly calls it as the worst film of the year so far, you know that everything about it has seriously gone wrong. This is the apt way to describe the fortunes of much publicized HAAL E DIL whose 40 lakhs collections in the first week are way below even the print and publicity cost. The hackneyed film has failed in such a big way that it's collections are even worse that Anil Devgan's last directorial outing BLACKMAIL (Ajay Devgan, Suneil Shetty, Priyanka Chopra). What a shame since along with HAAL E DIL, some good music too would now go away unnoticed!

KHUSHBOO has been even worse since it now qualifies as being filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani's biggest box office failure. It must indeed be disheartening for Nihalani since with the film he was attempting a comeback to making films. One wonders what would newcomers Rishi Rehan and Avantikka be thinking of since their film has managed to garner mere 10 lakhs across the country, which is much lesser than what Z Grade sleaze flicks earn in their opening week!

E Niwas can take consolation from the fact that DE TAALI has at least managed to gather some respectable collections for itself, if not the kind that immediately make is a safe preposition. Sitting at 7 crores, the film could just about manage to turn into a coverage flick, something which the people associated with DE TAALI won't really mind as it arrived after being in the making for over 2 years.

The film has it's maximum moolah coming from Mumbai where 2 crores in collections have resulted in DE TAALI being a decent success there at least. Delhi too has been fair at 1.25 crores . All credit to whatever collections that the film has earned should go to Riteish Deshmukh though since it was his name that attracted audience. After that it was good word of mouth that Rimmi's act generated that ensured that the film would find better success once it arrives on DVDs and Satellite.

From the past

As expected MERE BAAP PEHLE AAP has taken a fall and though it is bad, it is not catastrophic enough to result in it's investors turning panicky! With a 65% drop, the film still managed to earn 5 crores more which enabled the film to cross the respectable 20 crores mark. This makes the film as the biggest ever solo success for Akshaye Khanna when it comes to sheer collections. The film earned close to 90 lakhs in Mumbai while Delhi stood at 60 lakhs.

If one looks at Akshaye's films from the past, all of his successes so far have been multistarrers and this is for the first time that Akshaye has pulled audience by itself (though coming together of Priyan and Paresh Rawal along with him did help in a big way). Also for prouders Shemaroo, it is time to smile after GHATHOKACH being their latest box office failure. Still, in spite of face saving numbers enabling MERE BAAP PEHLE AAP to earn an average tag for itself, these are warning signs for Priyadarshan who must certainly have realized by now that there are obvious threats of his magic fading away!

SARKAR RAJ took another big fall in it's third week with collections going down by more than 60%. With only 2.5 crores more coming in, the film has seen it's fortunes deteriorating in a rapid manner with only 33 crores to show. The film would cross the 35 crore barrier and would be termed as average at maximum. After TASHAN, SARKAR RAJ is now only the second film in the history of Bollywood which has done more than 30 crores business and has still not reached anywhere being a semi-hit, let alone a clear Hit!

Unlike SARKAR RAJ which is on a downslide, AAMIR has been on an upswing and keeping quite consistent at the box office. The film took only 10% fall in it's third week and earned another 60 lakhs for itself. The film is now close to 2.5 crores and is a clear average runner. One waits to see how long does the film manage to sustain itself in weeks to come since it's DVDs are already out on stands while there is a slew of biggies in weeks to come.

JANNAT would be celebrating 50 days at the box office tomorrow and the DVDs too would have hit the stands all over by then. The biggest success of the year so far when one looks at ROI, JANNAT gathered another 30 lakhs in it's 7th week and is now inching towards the 33 crores mark.

In the future

The D-day has finally arrived. And thankfully it isn't the case of OM SHANTI v/s SAAWARIYA this time around. Unlike the Diwali clash which had resulted in ugly spats, it has been comparatively peaceful with LOVE STORY 2050 and JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA with both camps choosing to talk about their own m