Dangerous Ishhq And Ishaqzaade To Open Well

Dangerous Ishhq is the comeback affair of Karisma Kapoor and is directed by Vikram Bhatt who has mastered the thriller genre over his two decades of filmmaking.

On the other hand Ishaqzaade is a dramatic musical love story which has Arjun Kapoor making his screen debut with considerable hype behind him. The content, treatment as well as overall look and feel of both films is as different as chalk and cheese which means even though the clash would leave it’s marks over the weekend, both films should be on their own from weekdays onwards.

Between the two films, Dangerous Ishhq should open well better in single screen theatres as well as multiplexes with 3D screens. Vikram’s last 3D film, Haunted, had done quite well and was a clean hit. Now with the film featuring Karisma, one expects a good start for Dangerous Ishhq too. On the other hand Ishaqzaade, despite its rustic setting, should fetch a better start in multiplexes, especially amongst youth. Habib Faisal has shown his prowess as a director (Do Dooni Chaar) and writer (Band Baaja Baaraat) already. Now Ishaqzaade, a better hyped product, should be his acid test.

Both films should register occupancy in the upwards of 50% and boast of similar first day collections. However the content would do the talking post that. Since Department is the only notable release next week while the week later is crowded by largely unknown films, Dangerous Ishq as well as Ishaqzaade have as many as three (more or less) open weeks ahead of them. Former has an advantage of 3D screens choosing to screen it for as long as possible while Ishaqzaade should be the first choice for most multiplexes to retain a large number of prints if the content is promising.

Meanwhile, Forest too would try to make its presence felt this week after being pushed ahead by a week. One waits to see if that makes any difference to its ultimate box-office outcome.