As predicted in this column last week, collections of Aatma were better than Rangrezz. Still, one expected the gap between the two films to be marginal and not as wide as it eventually turned out to be. Having said that, this too was strictly on a relative scale as absolute numbers were hardly flattering enough to talk home about. While Aatma collected around 5.75 Crores over the weekend, Rangrezz was behind with 4 crores.
If the opening occupancy was hardly impressive, growth over the weekend was marginal as well with big push missing for both the films. Since Aatma as well as Rangrezz were primarily centred on word of mouth to elevate their fortunes, a weak opening coupled with scattered acceptance by the audience would have a telling on the overall fortunes.
In that aspect, the medium budget Aatma may still turn out to be a coverage affair since it didn’t incur much expenses. Also, lack of competition (except from Jolly LLB which is still doing well) would help it sustain a one week run before Himmatwala takes over. On the other hand Rangrezz, though opening a little better than Jackky Bhagnani’s last release Ajab Gazabb Love, has a huge distance to cover since it is a relatively more expensive film. In fact it is ironical that the film hasn’t seen footfalls coming its way since it is Priyadarshan’s best movie since Aakrosh!
Third release of the week, Sona Spa, surprisingly saw some decent reviews coming its way. However, as it has turned out, only (select) critics managed to watch the film as audience just didn’t step in, both due to lack of interest level generated as well as sparse release which resulted in poor show timings.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder