Ekk Deewana Tha Flops; Ghost Rider Does Well: India Box-Office Wrap

Ekk Deewana Tha bombed miserably in the first week in spite of many critics and trade analysts giving it the thumbs up. After a start of less than a crore on the opening day, the all-India net weekend could barely touch Rs. 2.75 crore. The first week closed at around Rs. 3.5 to 3.75 crore. The youngsters and the older generation, whether in the cities or the smaller centres, simply ignored the film starring Prateik and new heroine Amy Jackson. For Prateik, this kind of dismal opening comes as bad news as producers will be wary of signing him for solo starrers. What is surprising is that the film is a remake of a Tamil hit and, moreover, its Hosanna song had indeed become very popular before the film’s release. That the film was not appreciated is fine but not even opening decently is what has shocked the trade. From the look of it, the film may hardly do any business in the second week because it seems to be out of people’s minds if not out of the cinemas already.

Married 2 America has bombed miserably. Its shows in various cinemas across India had to be cancelled right on the first day owing to lack of audience. In an age when even leading men do not command an initial, it was futile to assume that a character actor like Chetan Pandit and a yesteryear heroine like Archana Joglekar would do the trick. The first week’s collections of the film were so poor that expectations from it for the second week are nil.

? (Question Mark) couldn’t have fared worse in its first week! The foolishness of titling a film with a mere ‘?’ symbol came out loud and clear. Lack of promotion also went against the horror film, collections of which presented he most horrifying picture.  Touted as found footage, even this publicity gimmick did not work for the film directed by two young boys and starring new or raw faces. If the film was scary in parts, its collections were scarier in toto.

Mahakaal – Badle Ki Aag (dubbed) did well in its first week, especially in non-metropolitan cities. The dubbed version of the English film, Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, recorded impressive collections in circuits like Gujarat, Saurashtra, tier 2 towns of Maharashtra, U.P., C.P.Berar, C.I. and Rajasthan. The original English version worked better in the bigger cities. All in all, a definite earner.

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, in its 2^nd week, reaped the advantage of lack of competition from the new releases and managed a weekend of around Rs. 5.5 crore and a second week net of Rs. 7.5 crore. In other words, collections of the Kareena-Imran starrer dropped after the weekend.

Journey 2 – Ajab Dweep Ki Ghazab Kahaani (dubbed) managed ordinary collections in the third week. Ditto for the original English film, Journey 2:The Mysterious Island.

Agneepath did average business in its fourth week.