It is almost an open week this Friday with LOVE KA TADKA, FRUIT N NUT and BAL GANESH 2. None of the listed releases are expected to achieve anything significant, with the possible exception of FRUIT N NUT at a few select multiplexes. The animated BAL GANESH 2 has the potential to attract the children but it should have been released during the holiday period.
Coming to the by now well known Diwali face off, the outcome turned out to be quite one sided during the festival days, and the picture changed somewhat after that. The battle was comprehensively won by BLUE during the first weekend, both in India and overseas, though Sunday onwards ALL THE BEST showed a remarkable pick up, based on good reviews and positive word of mouth. The third release, MAIN AURR MRS. KHANNA was a non starter and showed little or no improvement to finish a poor third, though it pipped ALL THE BEST to the third spot in the Overseas. Now to the details.
The Dutt, Akshay, Zayed and Lara starrer, BLUE, released at 110 cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs (by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.), had a fantastic start. Outside of Bombay the opening was excellent everywhere, in spite of pre-Diwali. Trade however feels that given its big budget (80 crore), even the flying start may not be able to save the film from making some losses, though a decent second week may just about change it all!. In the Overseas BLUE had a below expectations ? 215,962 to show from the UK (16-18 October), while the US numbers have not been disclosed.
The second release, the Dutt, Ajay, Fardeen, Bipasha and Mughda starrer, ALL THE BEST, released at 109 cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs (by Ajay Devgn Ffilms and Kinesis Films), had a below the mark opening and by and large the opening was dull all over. However, trade feels that the 40 crore ALL THE BEST may have taken a dull start, but its merits and entertainment have resulted in a good pick up from Sunday. But they are quick to add that harm has already been done because of a poor Friday and Saturday, as initial is what matters the most. ALL THE BEST has been rejected in the Overseas grossing ?57,582 in the UK and $96,054 from the US during the first weekend (16-18 October).
The third Diwali release, Salman, Sohail and Kareena's 35 crore MAIN AURR MRS. KHANNA was a doomed project from the first day and failed to improve even during the bountiful Sunday and Monday. Released at 88 cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs (by UTV Motion Pictures) the film had a bad to poor opening across India. Trade predicts a disastrous outcome for the film. In the overseas MAIN AURR MRS. KHANNA had ordinary grosses of ?89,299 from UK and $121,134 but is fairing much better than ALL THE BEST during the first weekend (16-18 October).
Meanwhile Suparn Verma's well crafted ACID FACTORY disappointed with its performance. The film collected 80 lakhs from Bombay, 20 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.25 lakhs from Baroda, 5 lakhs from Rajkot, 2 lakhs from Bhavnagar, 1 lakh from Gandhidham, 4 lakhs from Pune, 1.50 lakhs each from Nasik and Goa, 30 lakhs from Delhi city, 5 lakhs from Noida, 2.75 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 4 lakhs from Kanpur, 2 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.10 lakhs from Agra, 1 lakh from Meerut, 1.50 lakhs from Aligarh, 2.15 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 6 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.75 lakhs from Faridabad, 5.50 lakhs from Calcutta, 4.25 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.10 lakhs from Raipur, 2.50 lakhs from Indore, 3.20 lakhs from Jaipur, 25 lakhs from Hyderabad, 1 lakh from Aurangabad, 4 lakhs from Banglaore and 1.25 lakhs each from Mangalore and Davangere. White Feather Films and Mumbai Mantra's multistarrer, ACID FACTORY, paid the price of releasing during in dull pre-Diwali week and is a trade disaster, netting a very ordinary 3.25 crores during its opening week.
Moving on, David Dhawan's Govinda, Sushmita, Lara, Ritesh and Sohail starrer, DO KNOT DISTURB, crashed during the second week. The film collected 60 lakhs from Bombay, 12 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 5.50 lakhs from Surat, 4 lakhs from Baroda, 1 lakh from Bharuch, 3 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.25 lakhs from Jamnagar, 10 lakhs from Pune, 2.25 lakhs from Nasik, 1.75 lakhs from Goa, 35 lakhs from Delhi city, 5.65 lakhs from Noida, 3.50 lakhs each from Ghaziabad and Kanpur, 2.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.30 lakhs from Agra, 1.10 lakhs from Meerut, 1.50 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 7 lakhs from Gurgoan, 3.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 1.35 lakhs from Bhatinda, 1 lakh from Ambala, 1.75 lakhs from Panipat, 6.50 lakhs from Calcutta, 3.10 lakhs from Nagpur, 2.35 lakhs from Raipur, 5.50 lakhs from Indore, 1 lakh from Gwalior, 6 lakhs from Jaipur, 1.50 lakhs from Jodhpur, 1.10 lakhs from Ajmer, 3 lakhs from Hyderabad, 4.50 lakhs from Bangalore and 1 lakh from Mangalore. Netting another 3.50 crores, DO KNOT DISTURB has netted an ordinary 18 crores in two weeks from India and has flopped. The film has also failed in the Overseas with an ordinary gross of ?166,720 from UK till the third weekend (16-18 October) and $213,525 from the US at the end of its run.
Checking out Karan Johar's Ayan Mukerji directed WAKE UP SID; the film continued its impressive run across cities. The second week saw the film collecting 1.50 crore from Bombay (collections from 30 cinemas unreceived), 30 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 5.15 lakhs from Baroda, 1.50 lakhs from Jamnagar, 18 lakhs from Pune, 4 lakhs from Nasik, 5 lakhs from Goa, 1.05 crores from Delhi city, 20 lakhs from Noida, 6 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 5 lakhs from Kanpur, 4 lakhs from Lucknow, 3 lakhs from Agra, 1.15 lakhs from Meerut, 1.25 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 26 lakhs from Gurgaon, 5.15 lakhs from Faridabad, 1 lakh from Zirakpur, 1.10 lakhs from Bhatinda, 1.50 lakhs each from Ambala and Panipat, 25 lakhs from Calcutta, 11 lakhs from Nagpur, 5 lakhs from Raipur, 9 lakhs from Indore, 1.35 lakhs from Gwalior, 3.25 lakhs from Bhopal, 7.15 lakhs from Jaipur, 2.20 lakhs from Jodhpur, 1.15 lakhs from Ajmer, 30 lakhs from Hyderabad, 25 lakhs from Bangalore, 4.25 lakhs from Mangalore, 3.40 lakhs from Madras. Adding another 9 crores WAKE UP SID has netted a good 24.60 crores in two weeks from India. WAKE UP SID has also put up some decent numbers from the overseas grossing ? 242,459 from UK and a healthy $682,163 from US up to the third weekend (16-18 October). The Ranbir-Konkona starrer is now an above average fare for its worldwide distributors, UTV.
Our last entry of the week is Boney Kapoor's WANTED. The film had a very stable week collecting 45 lakhs from Bombay, 11 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3.20 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.10 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1 lakh from Pune, 1.35 lakhs each from Solapur and Nasik, 13 lakhs from Delhi city, 2 lakhs from Noida, 1.65 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2.35 lakhs from Kanpur, 1 lakh from Bareilly, 2.15 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 2 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.10 lakhs from Calcutta, 3 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.35 lakhs from Jabalpur, 1.50 lakhs from Amravati, 1.25 lakhs from Indore, 3.35 lakhs from Bhopal, 2.75 lakhs from Jaipur, 4.50 lakhs from Hyderabad, 2.35 lakhs from Aurangabad and 1 lakh from Bangalore. With another 3 crores WANTED has netted around 60 crores in four weeks from India and the Salman, Ayesha and Prakash Raj film is a clean hit. The film though has failed in the Overseas grossing a poor ?208,891 from UK and a so-so $349,637 from the US at the end of its run.
