Bollywood box-office report of the week : 13 march 2009

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This week’s new releases include JAI VEERU – FRIENDS FOREVER and GULAAL. While the Fardeen Khan and Kunal Khemu starrer has already been released in some circuits on March 11 (as we had told you), the response is nothing to write home about at prestigous cinemas but is much better at the single screens. The second release, GULAAL, which will release on March 13, may just reap some benefits of Anurag Kashyap’s recent success DEV D. All the same the dull phase at the ticket window is expected to continue for a while.

CHECK OUT: JAI VEERU Movie Preview

Last week saw three releases- 13B, DHOONDTE REH JAOGE and KARMA AUR HOLI. Things turned out to be quite in line with our predictions! The front runner, Madhavan’s 13B, released at 80 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (by Big Pictures), had a dull start and the opening was below the mark everywhere. It was followed at a close second spot by DHOONDTE REH JAOGE, which was screened at 88 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (by UTV Motion Pictures), and saw a dull start. Overall the opening was dull at some places and ordinary at others. The third release, KARMA AUR HOLI, had a horrifyingly poor to disastrous start everywhere. Given the low costs, 13B and DHOONDTE REH JAOGE may foster some hopes but KARMA AUR HOLI is all set to see red and a total loss, despite being released during the festival of colours.

Checking out the fates of KISSE PYAAR KAROON and SIDDHARTH-THE PRISONER, we are afraid its bad news as mostly this year! While KISSE PYAAR KAROON managed to scramble to about 85 lakhs, SIDDHARTH-THE PRISONER could not even touch 10 lakhs from India. Needless to add that KISSE PYAAR KAROON is a disaster and SIDDHARTH-THE PRISONER a washout.

CHECK OUT: Sequel time for DHOONDTE REH JAAOGE & 13B

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Moving on to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s DELHI 6, it turned out to another biggie that disappointed big time, after promising a lot. During the week DELHI 6 collected 55 lakhs from Bombay, 16 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3.50 lakhs from Rajkot, 5.50 lakhs from Pune, 2.35 lakhs from Nasik, 76 lakhs from Delhi city, 6.75 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 3.15 lakhs from Kanpur, 8.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 2 lakhs from Allahabad, 1.50 lakhs from Meerut, 1.35 lakhs from Aligarh, 1.05 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 4.15 lakhs from Chandigarh, 17 lakhs from Gurgaon, 4 lakhs from Faridabad, 2.50 lakhs from Calcutta, 6.75 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.25 lakhs from Raipur, 5.75 lakhs from Indore, 1.50 lakhs from Bhopal, 10 lakhs from Jaipur, 15.30 lakhs from Hyderabad, 1.35 lakhs from Aurangabad, and 1.75 lakhs from Mangalore. Netting a further 5.50 crores, the Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor starrer has so far accumulated 28.50 crores in two weeks from India and has failed at the ticket window. The film has also disappointed in the Overseas, grossing $303,613 from UK and $862,128 from the US.

Meanwhile, Priyadarshan’s Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta and Shah Rukh Khan (extended special appearance) starrer BILLU continues to fall. The third week saw BILLU collecting 25 lakhs from Bombay, 6 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 2 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.25 lakhs from Pune, 10 lakhs from Delhi city, 2.20 lakhs from Noida, 1.35 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1.05 lakhs from Kanpur, 3.25 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.15 lakhs from Agra, 2.50 lakhs from Gurgaon, 2.15 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.8 lakhs from Jaipur, 4.50 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1.25 lakhs from Aurangabad. Adding a further 1.50 crores, BILLU has netted a disappointing 25 crores in three weeks from India and has failed at the box-office. The film is comparatively better in the Overseas with grosses of $730,409 from UK and $753,515 from the US.

CHECK OUT: Will Anurag come to Bollywood’s rescue again with GULAAL?

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Standing somewhat tall amongst the ruins of 2009 (along with RAAZ-THE MYSTERY CONTINUES…) is Anurag Kashyap’s Abhay Deol starrer, DEV D. The film shows its tenacity as it collected 12 lakhs from Bombay, 1.60 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.15 lakhs from Pune, 25 lakhs from Delhi city, 4.25 lakhs from Noida, 2.35 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1.85 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.10 lakhs from Chandigarh, 4.75 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1 lakh from Faridabad, 1.10 lakh from Jaipur and 6 lakh from Hyderabad. Adding another 1.25 crores during its latest outing, DEV D has netted a healthy 14.85 crores in four weeks from India .With some more luck, the 6 crore DEV D may just about touch a semi-hit status from India, though it looks a tad difficult.

Before we wind up this week’s report, here is an update on the Oscar winner, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. After the Indian artists managed to make the country proud by winning several Oscar awards, there has been an upsurge in the collections of the dubbed Hindi version, SLUMDOG CROREPATI, and the film has managed to attain a semi-hit status from India, and has netted an impressive 13.25 crores so far.