Terror strikes hit new releases in Mumbai

Mumbai, Dec 1 (IANS) Just released light-hearted movies 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' and 'Sorry Bhai' have suffered at the box office due to the Mumbai terror strikes as both the films opened with thin attendances here.

Though the terror-hit city was back on its rails Friday, two days after the terror strikes began Wednesday night, not many people are venturing out to the cinema halls and malls even now. The 61-hour operation against the terrorists by the security forces ended Saturday morning. The attacks claimed 183 lives and injured 239.

While the cinemas in south Mumbai were ordered by the police commissioner to keep their shutters down on Friday, some in south-central areas in the city, like Dadar, Parel and Byculla, were also closed as a precautionary measure.

Barring Inox at Nariman Point, there are no multiplexes in south and south-central Mumbai.

As a result the box-office performances of the two new releases are not satisfactory even in the suburbs also, both in multiplexes as well as in single-screen outlets.

Though 'Sorry Bhai' has a better star-cast than 'Oye Lucky...,' it is lagging behind in terms of revenue collections.

While Sanjay Suri, Sharman Joshi, Chitrangada Singh, Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani forms the cast of 'Sorry Bhai!', 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' only has Abhay Deol and Paresh Rawal. Both the films hit the screens Nov 28.

According to trade circles, the audience reaction to 'Oye Lucky!...' is positive and the sub-distributors are confident that it will, finally, end up as a safe proposition, considering that it is not a high-cost vehicle. But they don't expect the movie's collections go beyond 50 percent.

The single-screen cinemas are confident that the movie's revenue collection will improve Monday onwards, though multiplex managements are a little skeptical about it, given the city's tense situation.

'Sorry Bhai' is produced by Mumbai Mantra.

Vikramjit Roy, Mumbai Mantra's communication chief, echoed the same feeling: 'The recent incidents hit the opening of our film in Mumbai. There is no doubt about it, but it opened well elsewhere and that's reassuring,' he said.

A UTV official remarked that 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye1' would surely wrap up the year on a positive note for the company. 'We are upbeat about it,' he said.