This Friday will see the release of as many as three films-Ram Gopal Varma's AGYAAT, Satish Kaushik's TEREE SANG and the Ujjwal Singh directed CHAL CHALEIN.
There is no doubt that the front runners are going to be AGYAAT and TEREE SANG, while CHAL CHALEIN stands no chance. One just wonders why the makers did not prepone (even at some cinemas/shows) to Wednesday, in order to cash in on the Raksha Bandhan holiday.
The only reason that comes to mind may have been that they wanted to keep away from the LOVE AAJ KAL juggernaut!
Last Friday saw the release of Illuminati Films and EROS International's Rishi Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer, LOVE AAJ KAL, and as expected and predicted the film ruled the multiplexes, for the reasons as given in our last box-office column. Released at 102 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (By EROS International), the film saw an excellent start. Outside of Bombay LOVE AAJ KAL was extraordinary in Delhi-NCR, Jaipur, Mysore circuit and East Punjab, good in 'A' class centers of Gujarat, C.I. and C.P. Berar but fair at several stations, particularly in Hyderabad Nizam where it was affected by the bumper opening of the Telugu film MAGHADEERA.
Trade feels that despite its high budget of 42 crores (for a Saif Ali Khan solo), the film will work wonders in the multiplexes and cities due to youth patronization and prove to be a rewarding experience for its worldwide distributor, EROS International. The final outcome will however depend on how the film sustains in the coming days. LOVE AAJ KAL has done wonders in the Overseas, grossing ?405,673 from UK and $1,241,762 from US. The film turns out to be Saif Ali Khan's biggest triumph on foreign shores!
Checking out Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd's Soham Shah directed Mithun, Dutt, Imran, Shruti and Danny starrer LUCK, the film is short of luck at the ticket window! The film collected 2.80 crores from Bombay, 72 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 30 lakhs from Surat, 10 lakhs from Anand, 24 lakhs from Baroda, 5 lakhs each from Bharuch and Vapi, 2.50 lakhs from Palanpur, 18 lakhs from Rajkot, 5 lakhs from Jamnagar, 3 lakhs from Gandhidham, 65 lakhs from Pune, 5.50 lakhs from Kolhapur, 11 lakhs from Nasik, 2.50 lakhs from Ahmednagar, 12 lakhs from Goa, 5.35 each lakhs from Hubli and Belgaum, 1.50 crores from Delhi city, 21 lakhs from Noida, 30 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 17 lakhs from Kanpur, 23 lakhs from Lucknow, 16 lakhs from Agra, 11 lakhs from Varanasi, 3 lakhs from Allahabad, 10.15 lakhs from Meerut, 4.25 lakhs from Aligarh, 7 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 27 lakhs from Gurgaon, 11 lakhs from Faridabad, 6.15 lakhs from Chandigarh, 2.20 lakhs from Zirakpur, 1.30 lakhs each from Panipat and Pathankot, 11 lakhs from Calcutta, 2.50 lakhs from Guwahati, 21 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.15 lakhs from Jabalpur, 3 lakhs from Amravati, 4 lakhs from Raipur, 16 lakhs from Indore, 1.50 lakhs from Sehore, 3.50 lakhs from Bhopal, 10 lakhs from Jaipur, 4.20 lakhs from Jodhpur, 3.15 lakhs from Ajmer, 2.50 lakhs from Bikaner, 85 lakhs from Hyderabad, 2.25 lakhs from Warangal, 6 lakhs from Aurangabad, 2.50 lakhs from Nanded and 1.35 lakhs from Coimbatore. Netting around 17 crores in its opening week from India, LUCK is on way to becoming a trade disaster. The 40 crore film will entail heavy losses to its distributors Indian Films. LUCK has also been rejected in the Overseas, grossing ?153,467 from UK and $149,333 from US.
Vishesh Films' Adhyayan Suman, Shahana Goswami, Anjana Sukhani and Humayun Saeed starrer, JASHNN, is totally out of the cinemas. Just for the records, JASHNN added another 10 lakhs to end its run in India, netting about 3.10 crores in two weeks and is a washout.
Meanwhile Pankaj Advani's SANKAT CITY continues to chug along, collecting 2.75 lakhs from Bombay (collections from 5 cinemas unreceived), 2.10 lakhs from Delhi city and 1 lakh each from Noida and Gurgaon. Adding a further 23-25 lakhs, SANKAT CITY has netted nearly 1.50 crores in three weeks from India and is a below average fare.
Moving on to EROS International and Sajid Nadiadwala's Akshay-Kareena starrer, KAMBAKKHT ISHQ, the film manages to trickle in some more collections. During the week KAMBAKKHT ISHQ collected 10 lakhs from Bombay (collections from 29 cinemas unreceived), 2.75 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.50 lakhs from Rajkot, 8 lakhs from Delhi city, 2.25 lakhs from Noida, 1.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2 lakhs from Kanpur, 3.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 2 lakhs from Agra, 1 lakh from Bareilly, 2 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 2.50 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1 lakh from Faridabad, 2.05 lakhs from Nagpur, 12 lakhs from Jaipur, 5.50 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1.20 lakhs from Aurangabad.
Adding another crore KAMBAKKHT ISHQ has netted slightly more than 50 crores in four weeks from India. The film is an above average fare for its worldwide distributors EROS International. KAMBAKKHT ISHQ has also done quite well in the Overseas, grossing ?700,714 from UK and $1,445,739 from US.
Our last entry of this week is yet again Yash Raj's Kabir Khan directed NEW YORK, which is still bringing in decent numbers. The film collected 23 lakhs from Bombay, 4 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.10 lakhs from Pune, 15 lakhs from Delhi city, 4 lakhs from Noida, 1.15 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2 lakhs from Lucknow, 5 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1 lakh from Chandigarh and 5 lakhs from Hyderabad. Adding another 90 lakhs, NEW YORK has netted an impressive 44.40 crores in five weeks from India.
The John, Katrina and Neil starrer is a hit plus and has also done good business in the Overseas, grossing ?399,131 from UK and $997,437 from US.
