Defying the producers' body, United Forum's call for suspension of new releases until the revenue sharing settlement issue is solved, there were three new releases – Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat, Ek Se Bure Do and Coffee House.
But all scored a big zero at the box office on day one itself and have either been removed or are left struggling to complete a week at the cinema halls. Meanwhile regional films – Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy (Marathi) and Tera Mera Ki Rishta (Punjabi) made the most of the situation.
Box office collections
Cricketers-turned-film stars Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli and Dev D girl Mahie Gill-starrer Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaath and Arshad Warsi-Rajpal Yadav starrer Ek Se Bure Do both were non-starters from the word go.
With occupancy ranging from 0 to 4 per cent on day one across the nation, many multiplexes discontinued these films even before their opening weekend ended. Single screens too rejected these two films. The third release Coffee House got a lesser prints release than above mentioned two and its fate was much worse than them.
Jimmy Shergill's Punjabi film Tera Mera Ki Rishta opened in Punjab to an excellent start on Friday and ended the opening weekend with 80-85 per cent occupancy.
Last week's big release, Akshay Kumar's 8X10 Tasveer fell flat at the box office not just in India but overseas as well. Akshay's films have always fared well in the UK, but Tasveer failed miserably there and in the US too. The film's total first week collections are said to be just around Rs 8 crore which spells huge losses for this film reportedly made on a Rs 40 crore budget.
Also released last week, Hollywood film Fast and Furious 4 did above average business in the big city multiplexes and in its Hindi dubbed version – Raftaar Ka Junoon did average business.
But the film which released last week and is creating a huge euphoria across Maharashtra is Mahesh Manjrekar's Marathi film Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy. The film had taken a flying start with Rs 1.5 crore net gross in it's opening weekend. The film has had almost every show running houseful in most of the multiplexes and single screens in the state. In its second week, multiplexes have even increased its shows and the response has been very good in its second weekend as well with 80-90 per cent average occupancy at most places.
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Trade Talk
There were zero expectations from the new releases in the trade. "Who would waste even Rs. 100 to watch films like Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat and Ek Se Bure Do when these film's actors also are ashamed to promote them. Promotion was non-existent for all three new releases, so majority of people were not even aware that these films existed." says veteran trade analyst Amar Solanki.
Solanki further adds, "Kukunoor's Tasveer stood no chance despite no opposition in it's second weekend as the damage was already done. After a poor first weekend, the collections only went down hill and the bad reports it carried had spread rapidly. The film to have benefited the most, at least in Maharashtra is Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy. This movie has released just at the right time before the Lok Sabha elections and its collections are only multiplying with every passing day."
A senior trade analyst remarked, "Akshay Kumar should reduce his market price immediately. He is said to have charged Rs 20 crore for this movie. This is said to be the primary reason for Tasveer's debacle. The film is now struggling to even collect even Rs 10 crore. Shivaji Raje...'s success also goes on to proves that irrespective of its language, a good film aided with great packaging can become a crowd puller even if it is pitted against a big ticket Bollywood film."
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