Bollywood box-office report of the week : 11 february 2009

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This Friday’s three new releases are going to be Kaleidoscope Entertainment’s Arbaaz and Kay Kay project, THE STONEMAN MURDERS, Promodome Films’ Manoj-Hrishita starrer JUGAAD and Red Chillies Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s BILLU, featuring Irrfan, Lara and superstar Shah Rukh Khan (essaying an extended cameo). While an OM SHANTI OM or even a RAB NE BANA DI JODI type opening may not be in the offing, but the front runner of the Valentine weekend, is going to be the Priyadarshan directed BILLU, with a good performance over the weekend. The fate of the other two releases looks bleak, though THE STONEMAN MURDERS may find a handful of takers in single screens, while JUGAAD can hope for some patronage in Delh-NCR, as it’s based there.

As we had said last week, there was something unpredictable about DEV D and that it was definitely awaited by a section of the audience and had the potential of springing a surprise! It did, though at select multiplexes of Bombay, Bangalore and Delhi-NCR. And given the genre and the cast, it is quite creditable. Abhay Deol deserves credit for the opening as its clear now that the class audience now associates him with moderate budget quality films. Released at 85 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (by UTV Motion Pictures) DEV D, the opening day saw dull collections (alright in cities like Delhi and Bangalore) which picked up on Saturday and Sunday, in multiplexes and good cinemas, frequented by the class audience. Trade predicts that DEV D may work in select cinemas of ‘A’ centres on the strength of the youth audience. In the Overseas, DEV D with just a handful of prints has surprised by grossing $10,950 from the US.

Coming to Govinda’s CHAL CHALA CHAL, the film is a miserable failure and will not be able to complete even a week’s respectable run in cinemas. The last release of the same week, Madhureeta Anand’s Randeep, Raima and Arbaaz starrer, MERE KHWABON MEIN JO AAYE, released at 34 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (thru PVR Pictures Ltd.) had a poor start almost everywhere and will entail losses to all concerned.

CHECK OUT: DEV D Movie Review

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Checking out the first week performance of Zoya Akhtar’s Farhan-Konkona starrer, LUCK BY CHANCE, the film did under-perform but still managed better than expected numbers, though still not enough to save it. LUCK BY CHANCE collected 1.75 crores from Bombay, 31 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 5.45 lakhs from Rajkot, 2.30 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1.30 lakhs from Bhavnagar, 16.40 lakhs from Pune, 4 lakhs from Nasik, 2 lakhs from Belgaum, 1 crore from Delhi city, 7.60 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 21 lakhs from Noida, 5 lakhs from Kanpur, 9 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.35 lakhs from Agra, 1.15 lakhs from Allahabad, 1.65 lakhs from Meerut, 1.60 lakhs from Aligarh, 28.75 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.35 lakhs from Faridabad, 6.50 lakhs from Calcutta, 1.15 lakhs from Guwahati, 11.35 lakhs from Nagpur, 9 lakhs from Indore, 2 lakhs from Bhopal, 4.20 lakhs from Jaipur, 2 lakhs from Jodhpur, 12 lakhs from Hyderabad, 1.65 lakhs from Aurangabad and 4 lakhs from Mangalore.

In its opening week Excel Entertainments’ LUCK BY CHANCE has barely netted 11 crores from India. Given the selling price and costs, LUCK BY CHANCE will struggle to even recover the investments, unless some miracle happens and that won’t! The film has also failed in the Overseas, grossing $176,708 from UK and $326,187 from US.

The fate of Ajitpal Mangat’s VICTORY was clear from the first show itself. Unfortunately, it turned out to be worse than that! In its opening week, VICTORY collected 16.50 lakhs from Bombay, 8 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.25 lakhs from Rajkot, 19 lakhs from Delhi city, 1.75 lakhs from Noida, 2 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2.40 lakhs from Lucknow, 2.25 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.75 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.10 lakhs from Jaipur, and 6.35 lakhs from Hyderabad. Netting less than 2 crores in its first week from India, VICTORY is a much bigger disaster than Baweja Jr’s first film, LOVE STORY 2050.

CHECK OUT: What does future behold for Harman Baweja?

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Nikhil Advani’s Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and Ranvir Shorey starrer, CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, is out of the theatres after just three weeks of its run in India. Just for records, the huge flop has netted in excess of 30 crores from India and grossed $724,619 in UK and $920,816 from the US.

Moving on to RAAZ- THE MYSTERY CONTINUES… , despite a big fall, that started from the fifth day of the opening week, the Mohit Suri directed film has become the first success of 2009. In its second week, the film collected 55 lakhs from Bombay, 14 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.15 lakhs from Mehsana, 4.65 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.60 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1.25 lakhs from Porbandar, 3.15 lakhs from Pune, 1.10 lakhs from Nasik, 36 lakhs from Delhi city, 7 lakhs from Noida, 5 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 3.25 lakhs from Kanpur, 8 lakhs from Lucknow, 2.25 lakhs from Agra, 1.25 lakhs from Allahabad, 1.15 lakhs from Meerut, 7 lakhs from Gurgaon, 5.25 lakhs from Calcutta, 4.65 lakhs from Nagpur, 1 lakh from Akola, 1.25 lakhs from Raipur, 3.35 lakhs from Indore, 7.30 lakhs from Jaipur, 1.35 lakhs from Ajmer, 14.25 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1.50 lakhs from Mangalore. Adding another 4.50 crores, RAAZ – THE MYSTERY CONTINUES… has netted a healthy 24.50 crores in two weeks from India. The Emraan-Kangana starrer is now a semi-hit in India and the Bhatts have another first success of the year in their crown! The film though is poor in the Overseas, grossing just $125,462 from UK.

Meanwhile Danny Boyle’s SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE managed to hang on, with the Hindi version SLUMDOG CROREPATI showing an improved run. Both the versions have managed a total of around 3.50 crores and so far netted a total of around 12.50 crores in two weeks from India. The Hollywood venture has thus moved up to an average status.

CHECK OUT: SLUMDOG makers refute recent allegations

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While on Murugadoss’s GHAJINI, the film collected 12.05 lakhs from Bombay, 1.60 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.65 lakhs from Surat, 2 lakhs from Baroda, 2.65 lakhs from Pune, 5.10 lakhs from Delhi city, 1.05 lakhs from Noida, 1.10 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2.40 lakhs from Kanpur, 3.05 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.05 lakhs from Agra, 1.25 lakhs from Dehradun, 1.60 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.20 lakhs from Raipur, 1.05 lakhs from Indore, 1.35 lakhs from Jaipur, 3.75 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1 lakh from Aurangabad. Adding another crore, the All Time Blockbuster Aamir, Asin and Jiah starrer has netted around 114 crores in six weeks from India. The film is already Aamir Khan’s biggest Overseas grosser till date grossing $1,059,429 and $2,444,668 from UK and US respectively.

We will conclude yet again with Aditya Chopra’s RAB NE BANA DI JODI. After completing 50 glorious days the film collected 2.05 lakhs from Bombay, 1.50 lakhs from Delhi city, 1.25 lakhs from Lucknow, 4 lakhs from Jaipur and 1.35 lakhs from Hyderabad. Adding another 25 lakhs, RAB NE BANA DI JODI has netted 86.25 crores in eight weeks from India. The All Time Blockbuster Shah Rukh Khan starrer is his highest grosser till date and is also a huge grosser in the Overseas with $2,178,914 from UK and $2,078,956 from the US.