Sarkar sidelined, it’s Aamir Raj here

They are two diametrically opposite films: The first is a big-budget socio-political sequel and has the entire Bachchan khadaan displaying their histrionic skills.

The other has a debutant actor-director duo with a grim storyline that is set in the dingy bylanes of Mumbai. Yes, we are talking of the RGV film Sarkar Raj and actor Rajiv Khandelwal's big screen debut film Aamir that released together two Fridays back.

Any film-goer would guess that the later wouldn't stand a chance before the former. But the verdict is out and the results are startling!

Jaipur has given the sauve Shankar Nagre ala Abhishek Bachchan a miss and stood firmly behind local boy Rajeev. The box office collections at the end of two weeks show that the two have done similar business across cinemas in the city, with Raj Kumar Gupta's Aamir showing better figures after the first weekend.

"Aamir is recording steady collections since Monday (June 9)," said a city-based trade analyst. Indeed, the film recorded collections of 60 lakhs (net) in its first 3 days on a limited release whereas Sarkar Raj made approximately Rs 48 lakhs during the same period. The occupancy thereafter in the first week has been about 50 per cent for both films.

"As against the expectation the film did good business. At an average, multi-starrer big-budget movies do 40 percent business so in comparison Aamir's steady 35 per cent at the box-office is really good," says Devendra Singh Chauhan, manager, Era Cinemas.

So is it the home-turf advantage that has given the film a push? Confesses Rajeev: "Before the release it was considered a sure-shot debacle as it was being released parallel to Sarkar Raj. But the warm response the film received makes it a victory of sorts. I have the people of my home town to thanks for this."