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Diwali Box Office: 1. Blue 2. All The Best 3. Mr. aur Mrs. Khanna
Friday, October 16, 2009
There appears to be a surprise result developing this Diwali as Rohit Shetty's Ajay Devgan produced and starrer, All the Best in many single screens has taken the Diwali lead over Akshay Kumar's mammoth budget Blue as well Salman Khan's home production Mr. aur Mrs. Khanna starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor along with Sohail Khan. Friday, October 16, 2009
The opening for Blue on Friday morning was in the range of 50-60%, while All the Best was around 60-70% and MAMK last at 25-30%, though with volumes of screenings being higher for Blue means the opening day collections for the Akshay Kumar starrer were the highest of the films running. However the film's cost and budget demanded a far bigger opening than what it has witnessed and given the reports are said to be mixed, it's a wait-and-see situation for this action adventure venture.
The poor opening of Main aur Mrs. Khanna on the other hand has once again shown that Salman Khan's popularity at the box office is more film to film and not so consistently solid that an initial will be there just because the actor is starring in it. As it is even Wanted had a subpar opening and picked up only in single screens and essentially flopped in the multiplexes. This film coming on the heels of the billed 'success' has affirmed the above. And while it is not surprising that MAMK opened worse than Blue, it is surprising that it has opened worse than All the Best which is an Ajay Devgan production and starrer, and who's certainly not a superstar. Or perhaps it is not so surprising in that it indicates the public on Diwali prefers lighthearted comedies in celebratory times. If so, it shows content and genre can outdraw the current 'star system' perceptions in Bollywood. Fortunately for Salman Khan, another film featuring him, London Dreams costarring the same Ajay Devgan and Asin and made by Vipul Shah, is carrying better reports and is expected to fare better. However the news is worse for Kareena Kapoor, whose claims of being #1 are rather dubious and belied by box office performance of films she shows up in. After an underwhelming Kambakht Ishq opposite Akshay Kumar earlier this year, MAMK is a total dud from her. Even Kareena Kapoor's publicized hits like Jab We Met have been relatively tiny grossers and some films with major studio backing and budget, like Tashan, have crashed shockingly.
Meanwhile Ranbir Kapoor's Wake Up Sid is holding steady in multiplexes despite reduced screenings due to the Diwali releases. It netted around another 8 crores in week 2. Ranbir Kapoor's next release coming up is Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani for Raj Kumar Santoshi and should definitely benefit from the success of Wake Up Sid.
Amitabh Bachchan-Sanjay Dutt starrer Aladin will release a week before that on October 30th. The title role for this Arabian Nights saga is being enacted by Ritesh Deshmukh. The more awaited film from the Bachchan stable this year is the film titled Paa by the Cheeni Kum director R. Balkrishnan, which will have as its USP the revelation that Amitabh Bachchan will be reintroduced as the son of Abhishek Bachchan. Paa will release on December 4th. Director Balkrishnan was able to deliver a hit in Cheeni Kum with a difficult topic of older man-younger woman romance. So he'll be on easier ground here boxofficewise. Vidyaa Balan will play the romantic lead opposite Abhishek Bachchan in this one.
Coming with Paa on Dec 4 will be Himesh Reshammiya's urban romantic-drama 'Radio'. Unlike the Bachchan film, the promos of the film starring the singer-actor with heroine Shenaz Treasurywala are already on the airwaves in full swing. The music is popular.
The first look of Aamir Khan led 3 Idiots was also revealed this week and has generated curiosity for its expected irreverant humor and drama set on the book 'Five Point Someone' by Chetan Bhagat, on and about the life at the IITs, India's top engineering institutes.
3 Idiots release date is set for Christmas amidsts heavy expectations as post 2006, Aamir Khan starrers are averaging a gross of around Rs. 100 crores each, highest of any contemporary star. Furthermore the film is being directed by Raju Hirani who had earlier directed the blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai in the year 2006.
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