New Delhi: Sanjay Dutt-Irrfan Khan starrer Knock Out and Ajay Devgn-Akshaye Khanna starrer Aakrosh that released last Friday have failed to sizzle at the box office this Dusshera. Even Ramayana - The Epic fizzled out without any fireworks and no divine intervention.
"The weekend was very bad with an overall occupancy of less than 40 percent. The movies didn't pick up even over the weekend. Knock Out, Aakrosh and Ramayana could barely cross 40 percent, 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively. The public did not accept the movies," Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas at Noida, told.
Delhi-based distributor Joginder Mahajan said, "All three movies have been major duds. Knock Out that has been made at a production cost of up to Rs.24 crore but could make only Rs.50 lakh in Delhi-Uttar Pradesh-Punjab. Aakrosh that has been made at Rs.40 crore could make only Rs.60 lakh in this belt.
"Ramayana on the other hand won't even recover its publicity costs. These were all dry subjects with no entertainment quotient and people wouldn't want to shell out money for no entertainment," he added.
Directed by Mani Shankar and produced by Sohail Maklai, Knock Out is an adaptation of Hollywood venture Phone Booth. It also features Kangana Ranaut, Sushant Singh and Gulshan Grover.
Aakrosh, on the other hand, has been directed by Priyadarshan and also stars Paresh Rawal and Bipasha Basu.
Ramayana is a 3-D animated film produced by filmmaker Ketan Mehta under his banner Maya Digital Media. It has been directed by Chetan Desai.
"The weekend was a complete washout. None of the movies picked up any momentum, had no word of mouth or content value. The stories were dry and found no takers. There was no business. While Aakrosh and Knock Out managed an occupancy below 20 percent, Ramayana couldn't get anything more than maximum 10 percent," a source from PVR cinemas said.
Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, however, had a different story to tell.
"Friday was both rocking and shocking. We expected a 80-90 percent occupancy as these were big projects but none of the movies could exceed more than 60-70 percent. Contentwise there was a mixed reaction from the audience," said Raizada.
"Ramayana, however, did decent business around 30-35 percent because of Dusshera and kids making a beeline for the same," he added.
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