First weekend performance of latest release
Neither SUPERSTAR nor MITHYA were expected to shake the box office. While the former was hardcore commercial in appeal and hence was expected to open better, MITHYA belonged to offbeat genre and hence had a lot riding on word of mouth. The opening weekend response for both the films was on a lower side though MITHYA started showing signs of improvement as the days progressed.
SUPERSTAR is not a bad film but Kunal Khemu has yet not achieved a status where he can pull a film on his own. Though he has come up with his career best performance in the film, he would have to love only on accolades for a while.
On the other hand, shoestring budget of MITHYA may just about help it pull through. Though (unfair) comparisons with BHEJA FRY had a section of audience taken aback initially, this Rajat Kapoor directed film may just about manage to hold on it's own. Just like SUPERSTAR, here too the film's central protagonist, Ranvir Shorey, has come up with his best performance ever.
Last week's movies
RAMA RAMA KYA HAI DRAMAAA is a flop. With only 1.5 crores in its kitty and nothing in the running in the second week, the film couldn't do to Rajpal Yadav what MAIN, MERI PATNI AUR WOH did where he played a lead actor. The film was poor all over with Mumbai being the highest with 30 lakhs. There were zero expectations in any case to begin with hence there were no surprises too when the film turned out to be lukewarm and hence was pulled off in quick time. Yet another addition to the tally of flops this year!
From the past
There was just a glitter of hope that SUNDAY may survive a sub-50% fall due to minimal competition around. However that was not the case to be as the film did see a 60% drop, hence bringing home only around 5 crores. In Mumbai the film earned close to 90 lakhs while Delhi just about managed to cross 50 lakhs. Though a 19 crores total means that the film is managing to sail through (just about, as predicted last week), the fact remains that SUNDAY hasn't turned out to be the box office success it deserved and the industry hoped.
SUNDAY has turned out to be one of the puzzling cases where it is hard to pin down a film's underperformance. A lot is being said about the film's poor climax or music but there have been countless examples where films have worked with minor aberrations like a weak climax or complete lack of chartbuster soundtrack. In fact in case of SUNDAY, there were quite a few exciting tracks. Also, the humor in the film was better than the kind we have witnessed in recent times and even seen being successful.
Anyways, leaving the post mortem aside, the actual collections mean that Ajay Devgan would have his eyes set on U ME AUR HUM. Meanwhile Rohit too has GOLMAAL RETURNS coming up which should bring his stocks in the running again.
HALLA BOL has folded up completely after a four week run with it's total coming to 16 crores. The film's DVDs are out and since they have arrived on Moser Baer with a price tag of less than Rs. 50, the makers can expect the film to get visibility on home entertainment circuits at least.
All this mayhem leaves TAARE ZAMEEN PAR to be the hot favorite till date. The film saw a fall of only around 35% fall and gained close to 2 crores. At 56 crores, it has one more week to go for the kill as this week would be see JODHA AKBAR dominate the screens. WELCOME too brought in another 50 lakhs and is now sitting at 75 crores. The film's DVDs are expected to arrive before month end.
In the future
Will it? Won't it? That's the question dominating the film industry in the last few days. There is a lot in stake when it comes to JODHAA AKBAR. Though the opening isn't expected to be fantabulous due to 'thanda' promotion, if only some reasonable word of mouth catches up, it is going to be advantage for JODHAA AKBAR all the way. Reason? From now till all the way into March, there is no major film releasing at theaters. That's because till 21st March, the day when RACE releases, the only other film coming in the way of JODHAA AKBAR is Subhash Ghai's BLACK & WHITE (on 7th March). With as many as 5 weeks between the release of JODHAA AKBAR and RACE, this Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai film has a lot going in it's favor provided things heat on the opening weekend.