REVIEW:Ek thi Daayan - Page 21

You are as good or bad as your last Friday. And in the case of both, Emraan Hashmi and Ekta Kapoor, the last few Fridays have been more than eventful. Emraan as well as Ekta have a string of hits behind them. Their past association together [THE DIRTY PICTURE] was a monumental hit as well. Naturally, everyone was expecting EK THI DAAYAN to end up as a money spinner as well.

In terms of economics, yes, EK THI DAAYAN is a profitable venture, but when you are known for setting benchmarks in the past, obviously, one expects the new endeavour to be a record holder as well. What comes as a surprise is that EK THI DAAYAN did not kickstart the way it should have, especially at mass centres/single screens. Emraan is the darling of the masses, like Salman Khan, and his films invariably open well at single screens/mass-dominated belt, but the tepid response to EK THI DAAYAN, that too on a holiday [Ram Navmi], came as a shock.

What does one attribute that to? EK THI DAAYAN was backed by a solid promotional campaign [Ekta leaves no stone unturned to promote/market her films], it boasts of mellifluous music, had an interesting star cast, there was no opposition to contend with either... even the genre has found a good number of takers in the past. Surprisingly, the business witnessed ample growth at plexes, not at single screens, during the weekend, despite strong word of mouth. The traders are flummoxed, since no one can pinpoint any particular reason for the mixed response at the ticket window.

The advantage with EK THI DAAYAN is its moderate cost [23.5 cr, inclusive of P & A]. A big chunk of the investment has been recovered from pre-sales [the film was sold at nominal prices to distributors], also sale of Satellite, Overseas and music rights. The producers are already in the profit zone, while the distributors, hopefully, should be smiling too!