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It was pretty much predicted in this column last week that none of the three new releases – ‘Dishkiyaoon‘, ‘Youngistaan‘ and ‘O Teri‘ – could expect an opening of any sorts as everything would eventually boil down to the word of mouth. While that part of the prediction came true, one couldn’t fathom in the wildest of dreams that the opening would be poorer than the worst one could have expected.
This was pretty much visible in the manner each of the three films practically opened to empty houses. Now it was a depressing sight indeed to have an abysmal count of people in theatres, especially when there was no other biggie in the running. ‘Queen‘ is coming to a close while ‘Ragini MMS-2‘ (which incidentally collected the best of the lot) was in its second weekend too. Still, audience just refused to step into any of the new releases. The fact that critical acclaim was completely missing too (except for, to some extent, ‘Youngistaan‘ that saw a nod of approval from some) meant that there wasn’t any motivation set either.
All of this meant that both ‘Youngistaan‘ and ‘Dishkiyaoon‘ were in the vicinity of 3-4 crores, as per early estimates. with former doing better at multiplexes and latter gaining some footfalls at the single screens. With both films being well promoted, the response was extremely disappointing as they deserved better. On the other hand ‘O Teri‘ suffered the worst fate with 2 crore mark being barely crossed. Though the actual figures are still being compiled and the exacts will be updated soon, it is still the babydoll reigning at the box office for sure. For a film with the name Salman Khan attached to it, this is the poorest response ever.
In all, a forgettable weekend indeed with all eyes on ‘Main Tera Hero‘ which releases this Friday.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder
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