First weekend performance of latest release

The week gone by has shocked the industry. It was good till it lasted as Bollywood saw 7 back to back successes - SINGH IS KINNG, BACHNA AE HASEENO, PHOONK, ROCK ON, A WEDNESDAY, 1920 and WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR. However, just when it seemed that celebrations were beginning to heat up, what with the festival season arriving, there was a blast of a different kind with DRONA and KIDNAP turning out to be damp squibs. While KIDNAP at the least saw a reasonable opening (70% on an average over the weekend), DRONA failed to do even that and hovered around the 50% mark. However, both the movies have been low on appreciation and have seen complete rejection as the week has progressed.

So what went wrong?

a) Promotion of both the films was good on quantity, very average in quality. In fact both the movies suffered from account of their promos seemingly repetitive with no change in graph even as they came closer to release,

b) No chartbuster song,

c) Out and out negativity which came from people both within and outside the industry. Sometimes a long weekend can be counter-productive if a film is badly made. This is what happened in case of both DRONA and KIDNAP since soon after the premier on Wednesday night, SMSs started flowing and the verdict was out even before the films were opened to 'aap junta' on Thursday morning. After RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG, DRONA now takes the honor of being subjected to most number of SMS and online jokes!

Last week's movies

No one actually cared for HARI PUTTAR - A COMEDY OF TERRORS and RAFOO CHAKKAR - FUN ON THE RUN. In addition, these were in any case poorly made movies and hence folded up even before the first week came to an end. HARI PUTTAR has flopped with just 1.5 crores coming after the first week in which Delhi has contributed with 35 lakhs and Delhi has just managed to top 20 lakhs in collections. There is absolutely nothing happening for the film in it's second week. On the other hand RAFOO CHAKKAR has seen a terrible time at the box office with a mere 7 lakhs coming from across the country, forcing one to invent a word over and above a 'disaster'!

From the past

Now from where did this one really come from? Seriously, no one expected WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR to do more than a face saving business at the box office, let alone turn into a success. I am sure even UTV would be grinning from ear to ear seeing the kind of box office response this Shreyas Talpade starrer has earned. Believe it or not but after a good 1st week, this Shyam Benegal film has done well in it's second week too with an industry standard 50% fall.

One would have thought that the film has found it's entire audience in the first week itself but that hasn't been the case, as suggested by 3.25 crores (Mumbai - 80 lakhs, Delhi - 40 lakhs) more coming in the second week. With close to 10 crores already in it's kitty, this is the biggest solo success of Shreyas Talpade ever and also for Benegal. As for Amrita Rao, she now has a HIT film to her credit after VIVAH which was a blockbuster!

SAAS BAHU AUR SENSEX has crash landed and fell by 90%. A big flop for everyone involved, it has folded up at 1.1 crores. However, one would love to see Farooque Sheikh back on the silver screen soon and hope that the box office fate of this film doesn't turn him away from Bollywood.

Meanwhile 1920 has held on quite fell and fell by only 40%. Still counting in crores with 1.5 crores more coming in, the film has now managed to cross the 10 crores mark. An above average runner which is the highest grosser for Vikram Bhatt after DEEWANE HUYE PAAGAL (which was a star studded affair), 1920 has managed to introduce two newcomers - Rajneish Duggal and Adah - who should now be seriously looking at establishing themselves in the world of Bollywood.

A WEDNESDAY is turning out to be terrific with every passing week. Frankly, even after great credentials of the film, no one expected it to reach the kind of distance it has managed to cover in the past 4 weeks. This is visible in the way the film has held itself with it's 4th week's collections being 5% better than the week gone by. This Neeraj Pandey directed film topped the 2 crores mark yet again, hence enabling the film to come quite close to the 10 crores milestone. Though there would be a fall in collections due to the weekend competition with DRONA and KIDNAP, one sincerely hopes that the exhibitors continue their trust in A WEDNESDAY and increase it's shows in the coming week.

Shows have gone down for ROCK ON as well over the week but it is yet another film which has in it to stay on for a longer period of time. With a mere 35% fall and 1.5 crores coming in it's 5th week, the film has crossed the 26 crores mark. PHOONK is now approaching 50 days at theaters this weekend and should end it's run just a tad below 11 crores. BACHNA AE HASSENO has already completed 50 days and it's 7 week collections read 38 crores. Meanwhile SINGH IS KINNG added another 25 lakhs in it's 8th week and has now earned 75.5 crores.

In the future

Though HELLO is the solo release of the coming weekend, one doesn't expect more than 30%-40% start for the film. Reason? Poor publicity! The content of the promos has been hardly exciting and is incoherent and dull. Also, it is confusing, what with focus shifting from Salman Khan to call center to God to Chetan Bhagat! Frankly, the makers seem to have lost the plot as far as pitching the film amongst the audience is concerned. The film may be good but verdict on that would be out only after it arrives on theaters. And if it indeed is good, the word of mouth may help it some extent but that's about it because a week later, plethora of biggies would start dominating the screens.