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When it had seemed that Bollywood was going through its best possible times with offbeat films like Barfi!, OMG Oh My God! and English Vinglish raking moolah after a fantastic run that (quintessentially Bollywood) Raaz 3 had enjoyed just a few weeks back, as many as half a dozen films failing at the box office have troubled the momentum. It was mentioned in this very column way in advance that release of so many films on the same day was never a good idea.
However filmmakers have their own whims and that showed in the miserable collections that most of their films suffered from. However the biggest surprise of them all, if not a rude shock, was the disappointing opening that Aiyyaa took. Though female centric films are known for starting slow but still, good promos and presence of a couple of chartbuster songs had made one look forward to a 50% start at the least. That didn’t quite happen though as the film just couldn’t move beyond the 25% mark. For a film starring Rani Mukerji, this was just not happening as mere 4.5 crore collections in the opening weekend don’t lend any positive sign. Worse, it is a terrible film that was panned from all quarters due to which there is no chance of any growth.
On the other hand Bhoot Returns had lesser collections (around 3.5 crore) and while it didn’t fetch any brownie points from the content and hence critical acclaim perspective, its low costs would mean that losses would be minimal. However one does feel this was one of those quick fix films by Ram Gopal Varma and even the filmmaker would move on faster than expected. Makkhi suffered due to haphazard release and saw close to 2 crore coming in.
While these three films still collected close to 10 crore between them, others failed to accumulate even 10% of that, what with Chittagong, Prem Mayee and In The Name Of Tai not even getting a proper release. Chittagong saw only a show or two in some premium multiplexes. As for Prem Mayee and In The Name Of Tai, even their makers must be hunting for theatres where these films were screened.
One does feel for Makkhi though. It was liked immensely by those who watched it but as predicted, it found itself getting lost in the crowd. One just hopes that exhibitors continue to screen it in weeks to come as well despite a plethora of Hindi films since it deserves to find a slot for itself and some good commercial gains as well. As for the rest, they don’t stand any chance whatsoever beyond a one week run since Student Of The Year would take over a large number of screens in the coming week.
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