As mentioned in this column last week, the clash between three films - Gulaab Gang, Queen and Total Siyapaa - wasn't quite a conducive sign for any of it. The start was bound to be impacted and only the best was expected to rise over the weekend and come trumps.

As it happened, the first casualty turned out to be 'Total Siyapaa' which lost out on both all important counts. First and foremost, it didn't get even a decent start for itself. Whatever little it could have gained over the weekend was further hampered by poor word of mouth and bad reviews, as a result of which the weekend was pretty forgettable for the Ali Zafar-Yaami Gatam starrer. With just around 4 crore coming in, the opening for the film was just a little better than Ali's last solo release 'London Paris New York' which was released exactly two years back and netted a 3.5 crore weekend.

This brings one to the other two releases of the week, both of which had females holding center-stage. As it happened, both 'Gulaab Gang' and 'Queen' were pretty much neck to neck, as far as sharing honors in terms of moolah that came at the box office. While the Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer brought in around 9-10 crore*, Kangna Ranaut too managed similar collections for her solo affair. Former had its share of audience at the single screens whereas latter primarily found majority of viewers in multiplexes.

It would now be interesting to see how the two films continue to fight it out during the course of the week as the dramatic tussle of Madhuri-Juhi is the best part of ‘Gulaab Gang’ while Kangna has single handedly ensured fantastic word of mouth for ‘Queen’ with her spirited act.

* Final numbers awaited