First weekend performance of latest release
All predictions pertaining to a good beginning to Quarter II of 2006 fell flat as none of the three releases opened as per the expectations! There was a strong belief that 'Shaadi Se Pehle' would take a very good opening due to big banner, good starcast and decent promotion but that wasn't the case! For a movie of such stature, a 80-90% opening was expected but that was hardly the case as it ranged from below average to average.
The only consolation factor for 'Shaadi Se Pehle' was that it opened to unanimously poor reviews, just like the surprise superhit of the year 'Malamaal Weekly'. But while Priyadarshan-Paresh combo took an upper hand over the critics, that hasn't been the case with 'Shaadi Se Pehle' as it manages to remain only in the average range. Though the movie boasted of a good first half, the poor ending is touted to be an anti-climax!
It was expected that Salman Khan's presence would give 'Saawan - The Love Season' a reasonably good opening, at least in the interiors. Though it was good at some centers in the heartland of India [as expected], at the remaining places it was mainly in below average to poor range. This badly made movie was rejected as days progressed and though the film remains in news due to Salman's arrest [and now him being bailed], it seems difficult for it to cross the safety mark. One wonders what next does Saawan Kumar have in mind after his reunion with Salman too has failed to get him the desired results!?
Confused! This was the common thought of most of the critics and 'junta' who watched 'Banaras - A Mystic Love Story'. The film proved to be mystic for everyone involved as it didn't even take a worthwhile opening. After 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara', this is yet another movie for Urmila that tries to bridge the gap between art and commercial but with little effect. The movie has been appreciated for its technical finesse [courtesy Pankaj Parashar] but general lack of interest amongst the audience to watch it, combined with a theme that didn't really entice many to watch the flick has resulted in an all around no-show.
All in all, a disappointing first week in April when a much better outcome was expected!
Last week's movies
March ended on a 'horrifying note' [and no, it's not just the 'horror' flick 'Ho Sakta Hai' responsible for it!] with each of the four releases tanking at the box office completely. Even the combined collections of 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo', 'Madhubaala', 'Ho Sakta Hai' and 'Naughty Boy' failed to cross the 50 lakhs mark across the country, which tells the tale! At least 2 comebacks have gone for a toss after these releases - Preeti Jhangiani's for 'Chand Ke Paar Chalo' and Rahul Roy's for 'Ho Sakta Hai'. Sameer Dharmadhikari, who started off reasonably well with Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Satta', is having a torrid time after back to back failures with 'Rafta Rafta - The Speed' and now 'Madhubaala' failing as well. None of the four films managed a release on an all-India basis and wherever they did release, they made a quick exit at the end of week one. A forgettable outing for everyone involved and a week that Bollywood would choose to ignore!
From the past
'Multiplex' film 'Being Cyrus' had a decent second week as it witnessed a customary 50% fall in its collections. Still it managed to add in a crore more to its kitty and now stands as 3+ crore film. For a low budgeted experimental film, these are fine collections but still not large enough to call 'Being Cyrus' a BIG success. At maximum, the film is a coverage though there could be an improvement in collections as films of this genre have an audience of their own that are unaffected by other Bollywood releases which arrive one after another. 'Being Cyrus' should end between 4-4.25 crores, which is good enough for a first time director [Homi Adajania] who was set out to do something unconventional while roping in mainstream actors for his English film.
After 'Umar', Karan Razdan gets his second box office disaster in a row as 'Souten' fails miserably in its second week with near non-existent collections. The film has more or less ended its run below the 1 crore mark.
'Malamaal Weekly' continues to make its investors 'malamaal' on a 'weekly' basis as it remains at the top of the charts for the maximum collections in a week. Even in the fourth week, the film managed another 2.5 crore in its kitty hence bringing its collections close to 23 crores. The film has been doing exceedingly well across the country with good collections from each of the A, B and C centers. While the stand was divided amongst trade pundits that the film would do well either in multiplexes or remote areas, the final result tells a different story altogether with audiences flocking the theatres for this no-brainer comedy!
On the other hand 'Taxi No. 9211' has now turned out to be a sleeper HIT by silently chugging closer to the 20 crore mark. Though the film's publicity was stopped around 3-4 weeks back, that hasn't deterred the audience from still checking it out at the theatres. Maintaining its position in the Top 5 charts, the film added another 50 lakhs odd in its 6th week. Those who thought that the film is too Mumbai-centric have been proved wrong as though its biggest share has come from Mumbai, it is also a reasonable success across majority of centers in the country.
'Rang De Basanti' continues to take a minimal fall [~20%] as weeks progress and adds in another crore. Even after a 10 weeks stay at the box office, it is still being shown at approximately 150 screens which is simply phenomenal in today's age when the screen life of even a successful film is around 5 weeks at an average! With the milestone of 50 crores being achieved, it now has to be seen how much extra distance does it go from here. The film's original DVD and VCD too are out at just the right time that makes the film stay on with the audience for some more weeks to come.
In the future
Much awaited movie for the month of April, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, releases this Friday. With no other worthwhile competition in sight, it should be a home run for this Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif film. Great production values with T-Series at the helm and fantastic promotion should ensure that the film takes an excellent opening in the range of 80%-100%. Anything less than a 10-12 crore opening week should be surprising for this Raj Kanwar film that boasts of chartbuster musical score [Title song - Himesh Reshammiya, Fanaa - Anu Malik]. The film seems to be an ideal fusion of Indian values with a modern day touch and should be particularly appealing to family audiences.
The other (probable) release of the week is Karan Razdan's long delayed 'Eight Shani'. Dealing with supernatural, it comes at a time when Indian audience has moved away from the horror genre. With near to negligible publicity and lack of face value, the outcome of the movie should be hardly surprising for anyone.