Three films release this weekend – Hate Story 3, Angry Indian Goddesses and Kajarya. Each of these films is a women-centric affair, a rarity to have abundance of such releases on a single weekend. Between the three, the film which has been promoted most extensively is Hate Story 3. That was expected since it is one of the rare franchises to see a third in the series. First Hate Story, with Paoli Dam in the lead, was a decent success and had managed to make some profits. Hate Story 2, with Surveen Chawla as the central protagonist, was bigger in scale, and went on to cross the 25 crore mark to emerge as a Semi-Hit.
Now Hate Story 3 is even bigger and has some notable actors in there, the most known face being Sharman Joshi. However, it is the leading ladies who are the selling point in this erotic franchise and with Zareen Khan and Daisy Shah going through a complete metamorphosis, there has been good curiosity. It is pretty much a given that the film would open well in the smaller centers and interiors. Even at multiplexes, the film is getting a very wide release (8-10-12 shows) which says a lot about the way trade is positive about this franchise. The film is set for a bigger weekend than Hate Story 2 (15.65 crore).
Box Office Predictions – Hate Story 3, Angry Indian Goddesses, Kajarya
Angry Indian Goddesses is a very good film, as have been the reports from the festivals where it has been screened. The irony though is that it is actually *not* a festival film and is as commercial as it gets. Its title slots it into the offbeat zone but director Pan Nalin has actually made a fun film with fair bit of drama that is bound to catch attention of those who watch it. That said, the film has hardly been promoted, which is a pity since it deserved much better. There isn’t much expected from the opening but solid critical acclaim can allow it to hold on over the weekend. Post that, all would boil down to word of mouth.
Third release of the week, Kajarya, is a two year old film that has been traveling festivals since 2013. There has been zero promotion around the film and release is being meager as well. It would be a miracle to see the film actually find attention amongst the audience, and one waits to see the kind of critical acclaim that may comes its way.
