Two love stories release in this weekend of Valentine’s Day – Fitoor and Sanam Re. Former has Katrina Kaif as the star element with Aditya Roy Kapur coming in a romantic affair after Aashiqui 2. The film is directed by Abhishek Kapoor who has two good successes behind him – Rock On and Kai Po Che! Now Fitoor is an altogether different genre for him as this is his first love story. With UTV backing it, the film has everything going for it. The music is very good too, though in a classy zone as none of the tracks has become a massy chartbuster.
On the other hand Sanam Re has a hit director, Divya Khosla Kumar, backing the show after Yaariyaan. Though the cast [Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam, Urvashi Rautela] doesn’t have bumper hits behind them, the pairing is fresh. What is working in the favor of the film big time is the music and the visuals. Considering the fact that the film is backed by T-Series, these factors are a given, as seen in majority of their productions so far. Moreover, the film is looking like a quintessential romantic entertainer.
All of this means that both films would see almost similar numbers coming on the opening day. There may be a gap of 1-2 crore, but that’s about it. Normally, a film with Katrina in lead would be termed bigger, but Sanam Re has managed to bridge the distance due to chartbuster music and eye pleasing visuals.
Of course, eventually it would be the content that would do the talking, though for now the opening of Fitoor as well as Sanam Re would be on similar lines. Expect both films to open in 30%-40% range and then grow basis word of mouth. What is working in favor of these films is their timing though, since Valentine’s Day is the season of love and youngsters are expected to keep the footfalls on during weekdays too.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder