Yeh toh hona hi tha. And it's doesn't really require a trade person or an industry expert to claim so; after all any person on the street can be expected to state that when as many as five films clash with each other, there are bound to be losses for most involved. This is what has happened for majority of films that arrived over the weekend gone by. As things stand out today, only 'Force' and maybe 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster' would be able to cover their costs with the rest - 'Hum Tum Shabana', 'Tere Mere Phere' and 'Chargesheet' turning out to be all around disasters.

Let's begin with 'Force'. It's 16 crores weekend has only ensured that the film stays afloat. Now whether this Nishikant Kamat directed film would see any further escalation is something that is waited with bated breath. Reason being that for it to reach shores comfortably, there is some distance yet to be covered. Having said that, in the bigger scheme of things where John had disasters like 'Jhootha Hi Sahi' and 'Aashayein' behind him with Vipul Shah not quite seeing good success with 'Kucch Luv Jaisa', 'Action Replayy' and 'London Dreams', these are still the results that are reasonably heartening at the least.

The other prominent release of the week, 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster', has enjoyed an all around appreciation and if the film has taken a sub-par opening of just 4 crores, it has it's makers to be blamed entirely. There was hardly any awareness created and audience were not even sure about the film's release till it hit the screens. The film has potential to hang on but then there is competition ahead with as many as three new films in the coming weekend. Now that's disappointing since this Tigmanshu Dhulia film could be well enjoying a cult outing in years to come.

As for 'Hum Tum Shabana', the film has proven to be a shocking disaster. Frankly, one expected an opening in the range of 50% at the least despite the fact that it's promotion had seen a downfall during the fortnight leading to it's release. Still good music coupled with fairly amusing promos made one feel that this Tusshar Kapoor-Minissha Lamba-Shreyas Talpade film would see at least decent footfalls. However a mere 20% opening with just 1.25 crores coming in means that the film would be one of the biggest disasters of 2011, hence joining the likes of 'Game'.

'Tere Mere Phere' was made at a much lesser budget though but it's 1 crore opening weekend isn't something to cheer about either. Just like 'Hum Tum Shabana', even this Vinay Pathak starrer couldn't rake in good reviews and found complete rejection from the audience. As for 'Chargesheet', the only people who saw the film were special invitees and friends and family members of Dev Anand. The film merely saw a token release and didn't even make it to appropriate show timings in mainstream theatres.