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As predicted in this column, none of the new releases were expected to open bumper at the Box Office. Each of the four new films – Phobia, Veerappan, Waiting and Fredrick – saw a restricted release for themselves, though the first two mentioned were comparatively widespread. There was absolutely no advance booking to speak of and footfalls in the opening shows were not meant to be heavy either.
While Veerappan opened relatively better with a collection of 1.77 crores , Phobia started picking up towards the evening and night shows. Reviews for Veerappan have ranged from decent to good, something which should be a respite in itself for Ram Gopal Varma who was welcomed with poor reviews for last few films of his. On the other hand Phobia has seen good to very good reviews coming its way, and for the multiplex audience, it seems like a good horror-thriller in the offering. Central characters of both the films, Sandeep Bhardwaj as Veerappan and Radhika Apte as the victim of Phobia, have been widely appreciated too.
On the other hand Waiting has surprised too with all around good reviews coming its way. In fact it is surprising why the film was not promoted well at all. Nonetheless, for the word of mouth to spread in, there have to some footfalls at the least. That has not been the case for the Naseeruddin Shah-Kalki Koechelin film and hence all eyes are on how the film finds some niche audience for itself during the weekend.
The good news for them though is that the week is wide open ahead, which means even semi-decent business in days to follow would help at least a film or two to show better numbers by the time week comes to a close.
Fourth release of the week, Fredrick, has gone unnoticed with not many even reviewing the film.
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