Box Office - 25th may

First weekend performance of latest release

Everything began with A in the entire week as 'Ankahee', 'Aparichit-The Stranger' and 'Aatma' released simultaneously. On paper, what was in favor of these three movies was a different subject and genre they belonged to. But this was not enough as none of the three took an encouraging start at the box office. While 'Ankahee' and 'Aparichit' were mainly multiplex releases, 'Aatma' was sort of a comeback film by Ramsays and primarily released at single screen theatres. At least the former films were decent products but as expected 'Ankahee' took a slow start while 'Aparichit' too was good at only few multiplexes. Though the films ranged from being subtle [Ankahee] to highly aggressive [Aparichit], they hardly seem to be on a survival path beyond the first week after which 'Fanaa' strikes. 'Aatma' is a kind of film that works mainly on long runs and amongst those audiences who hardly care for a film's title as long it has an ample dose of horror, sex and violence to offer. But in its first run, it doesn't appear to be on a winning path!

Last week's movies

'Tathastu' and 'Tom Dick and Harry' were the films that came back to back and it was proved once again that small time actors may win a battle over a big movie if it is promoted well and luck is in its favor. The same happened in case of 'Tom Dick and Harry' that looked as a below average earner to start with but a consistent first weekend helped it reap in decent moolah. There was widespread backlash about the film being full of vulgar jokes and gags but that didn't deter audience belonging to different age groups venture into the theatres. In nutshell, with a 6 crore opening week, the producers of this small budget film are saying 'jhoom jhoom' all the way to the bank. Near 1 crore first week in Mumbai, 50 lakhs each in Delhi and Ahemadabad, and as much as 25 lakhs in Kolkata meant that Deepak Tijori has finally got a decent success in all corners of the country. If the film crosses 10 crore [which seems probable], it would get the director in the elite group of 10 crore directors!

In comparison Sanjay Dutt had to suffer from one of the biggest disasters of his career in the shape of 'Tathastu'. One can hardly remember a film starring Sanjay Dutt in a major role flopping in such a big way at the box office even before the commencement of the first show. There could be multiple reasons for the film's delay most notably being poor publicity and general lack of awareness amongst the moviegoers about the release of the film but what gets highlighted in the end is the box office response. And the response is clear that the movie has sunk in a big way. A 2 crore opening is hardly the sort that a Sanjay Dutt film has ever registered while less than 10 lakhs in Delhi city is easily his lowest ever. Amisha Patel's dreams of hitting the bull's eye by working with a senior actor [after Sunny Deol in 'Gadar-Ek Prem Katha'] have gone crashing!

From the past

General perception is that once the suspense factor is out in case of a thriller, it's bye-bye time at the box office. It was proved wrong earlier in case of 'Gupt' and '36 China Town' also negates the theory (inspite of a suspense that was nothing more than a PJ!). After a stupendous first week run, the movie continued to make good money by further adding on around 6 crore to make it a 17 crore film by now. Easily on its way to the 20 crore [and a few more], it is now one of the biggest earners for Subhash Ghai and Abbas-Mustan.

'Gansgter' continues to have a cool and calm run at the box office as it added around 1.5 crore more in its 3rd week to take it past the 11 crore mark. The movie is still doing reasonably well all over and should make further profits for its makers once the film's DVD is out. 'Darna Zaroori Hai' had a second consecutive BIG crash [around 90%] as the all-India collections stood close to just Rs. 1 million. An extremely poor result for this RGV film that would end around 6.5 crore.

Lack of competition means that 'Humko Deewana Kar Gaye' gets to earn some more moolah by sustaining its position at No. 5 in the charts. A 25 lakhs total in the fifth week meant that the film would come closer to 14.5 crore, if not reach 15 crore. Chances are that in the long run, it may turn out to be coverage for its investors as it takes the rounds of single screens of smaller towns.

'Pyaare Mohan' come quite close to 12 crore but has now more or less ended its run. Its original DVDs/VCDs are out on stands and are expected to do a reasonable business amongst home audience. 'Rang De Basanti', 'Malamaal Weekly' and 'Shaadi Se Pehle' may as well be counting their last breaths as 'Fanaa', 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'X-Men' gulp away most of the multiplex screens.

In the future

It's the Fanaa, Fanaa and more of Fanaa this week as the controversy around the film's release at multiplexes has created a general awareness [that was surprisingly lacking earlier] amongst the audiences. The path cleared for the film's exhibition at multiplexes means that a historic start is keenly anticipated all over for this film that is now the sole Hindi release of the week. A 15 crore+ opening is a given and the film may only strengthen its position further if the first weekend reports from the audience is good.