First weekend performance of latest release

UGLY AUR PAGLI has turned out to be a film which not many have watched at theaters on it's release but would find some audience for itself on it's DVD arrival. Let us first talk about why the film didn't do well on it's release in spite of the fact that it seemed to be one breezy romcom which could manage to lure school/college going students to multiplexes? Reason is simple - release timing! The film came just a week before SINGH IS KINNG, a film which is eagerly awaited by one and all.

While all eyes were set on the Akshay-Katrina starrer, a film like UGLY AUR PAGLI was cold shouldered. Of course poor reviews further killed the film but the multi-crore first weekend initial too also didn't materialize due to general sentiment being in favor of SINGH IS KINNG. Also, since word of mouth (minimal in it's own right) too didn't proclaim UGLY AUR PAGLI to be a definite watch, it all meant a steady downfall for the film. Great promotion by PNC, good music by Anu Malik and some fun acting by Mallika and Ranvir didn't quite work wonders for this Sachin Khot directed venture!

Last week's movies

MISSION ISTANBUL and MONEY HAI TO HONEY HAI were released at close to 1100 cinemas between themselves. However, the combined collections of the two films read a depressing 11 crores. Now doesn't this pretty much tell the tale of the two films, both of which are big flops?

Let's talk about MISSION ISTANBUL first. Seriously, were there many people who were actually expecting the film to click with the audience? Yes, it did seem that eventually it may manage to sail through but the biggest problem with the film was not what happened on screen but off screen. In spite of some attempts by the makers to give the true picture about the leading heroes in the film, there was never any clarity around whether the film belonged to Zayed Khan or Vivek Oberoi.

It was always a confused scenario and eventually the film turned out to be neither Zayed's nor Viveik's. Off course, all of this was off screen but for the audience, there was just not enough excitement built up. Also, though action was proclaimed to be the USP of the movie, the promos at number of instances indicated tacky special effects which were passed off as real time stunts. Worse, not a single song from the film became a chartbuster and ultimately a collage of item numbers didn't quite help the album in growing with the listener.

Reading a mere 6.5 crores at the end of the first week, the film is all set to fold up in the vicinity of 10 crores. While Mumbai struggled to get past the 1 crores mark towards the end of Week 1, Delhi too was poor at close to 60 lakhs.

MONEY HAI TO HONEY HAI - Now this one was a tacky film from the very first day of kick start of it's television promotion. The writing was clear on the wall and though the film did proclaim itself of being a multi starrer, the question was - 'Where is a star?' Poor publicity, poor quality of promotion, comedy which hardly invoked any mirth, bad mouthing by stars in and around the film's release and general lack of interest amongst the audience meant that MHTHH turned out to be a major box office failure.

Director Ganesh Acharya now gets his second box office flop in a row after SWAMI and so does producer Kumar Mangat after HAAL E DIL. The film's first week reads a very poor 4.5 crores and is just short of being a trade disaster. While Mumbai stood at a mere 80 lakhs, Delhi was exactly half of it.

From the past

As expected, KISMAT KONNECTION has continued to show a steady fall after a very good first 3 days. In fact the decline in it's second week was quite huge with close to 75% fall. Quite poor. However, there isn't much surprise here since the film by itself was lucky to have sailed through in spite of being a very average product.

The film earned close to 5.5 crores in it's second week, hence touching the 26 crores mark. However, as things stand today, it would be quite a touch and go for KISMAT KONNECTION to surpass 31 crores total of Shahid's last success JAB WE MET. An average runner, KISMAT KONNECTION saw 1 crore coming from Mumbai and approximately 70 lakhs from Delhi in it's second week. The good news though is that it was still better than MISSION ISTANBUL and MHTHH in these cities in the week gone by.

CONTRACT more or less disappeared from the arena in it's second week with a huge 95% fall. Running to empty houses with a mere 10 lakhs coming in, it is a huge flop for Ram Gopal Varma. The film is struggling to reach even the 2.5 crores mark and would soon see a DVD release.

JAANE TU YA JAANE NAA has turned out to be one of the biggest hits ever for a debutant hero. In just four weeks flat, the film has managed to cross 50 crores at the box office which is a feat that no other Bollywood newcomer has managed to achieve ever since Bollywood came into existence. Imraan Khan now finds himself in the Super A league with this Abbas Tyrewala directed film becoming a huge blockbuster with roaring business all over.

In fact over the days gone by, when blasts impacted the business of quite a few films, JTYJN took minimal fall and went on to earn another 4.5 crores for itself. Though the 60 crores mark is impossible to achieve (what with SINGH IS KINNG arriving next week), JTYJN would still be doing good enough to see a wrap-up happening in the vicinity of 55 crores.

In the future

SINGH IS KINNG is all set to get box office jingling. Though it won't be fair to comment that the buzz here is unparalleled (all biggies like OM SHANTI OM or RACE or WELCOME or DHOOM 2 had equal and in some cases even better hype), the rush at the advance counters has proved that SINGH IS KINNG is well on it's way to take a bumper first week initial. At select single screens and multiplexes where the plans are already open, one can already witness sell out signs for number of shows in the first weekend.

Currently OM SHANTI OM is the only film which has managed to break the 40 crores barrier when it comes to collections from Indian box office. RACE, WELCOME and DHOOM 2 follow suit with close to 35 crores each in the first week. While SINGH IS KINNG appears all set to cross the 35 crores mark, it has to be seen if the built up in hype and buzz is to the kind of extent which would threaten collections of even OM SHANTI OM.

As for GOOD LUCK, the other release of the week, the film would not have met with a great response even if it would have arrived solo. GOOD LUCK is not even expected to get a good chain of theaters and show timings due to exhibitors keeping their eyes locked on SINGH IS KINNG. Now if this can't be termed as a suicide, how else would one explain the arrival of GOOD LUCK at theaters this Friday. Now all the film needs for itself is, what else, but some 'good luck'!