The coming Friday has as many as four films lined up for release. The list includes Anupam Kher's MORNING WALK, Akshaye-Arshad's SHORT KUT THE CON IS ON, the starless DEKH BHAI DEKH and Pankaj Advani's SANKAT CITY. One feels that from the four, Studio 18 and Anil Kapoor's, Neeraj Vora directed SHORT KUT THE CON IS ON may find some first day patronage in Bombay circuit, while the 'different' SANKAT CITY (with some of the best actors of Bollywood) may impress, based on a positive word of mouth. The remaining two- MORNING WALK and especially DEKH BHAI DEKH are likely to go unnoticed.
Last Friday saw the release of Eros International and Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s KAMBAKKHT ISHQ. The Sabbir Khan directed Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor starrer expectedly embarked on a great start all over. Released at 113 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (by Eros International Media Pvt. Ltd.) the film saw a bumper start. By and large the opening was superb across India. However, the trade feels that the 45-50 crore KAMBAKKHT ISHQ may have taken a flying start but, considering its high cost, what was needed was also the power to sustain, which the film lacks. Therefore, although the exhibitors will smile from ear to ear, the makers/distributors will have reasons to worry as collections will (probably) drop down after a bountiful weekend. But for that we will have to wait and watch as to how the weekdays progress! During its first weekend KAMBAKKHT ISHQ has done very well in Overseas, especially in the US, grossing $768,542. In the UK the film grossed ? 299 533, which is low for an Akshay Kumar starrer as compared to his recent films like SINGH IS KINNG .
Meanwhile the first universal success of 2009, Yash Raj Films' Kabir Khan directed NEW YORK has a good first week, despite a fall from Monday. The film collected 5.50 crores from Bombay, 1.30 crores from Ahmedabad, 1.50 lakhs from Vapi, 3.05 lakhs from Mehsana, 2 lakhs from Palanpur, 17 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.75 lakhs from Gandhidham, 1.50 lakhs from Adipur, 25.50 lakhs from Pune, 4 lakhs from Solapur, 3 lakhs from Sangli, 12 lakhs from Nasik, 5.15 lakhs from Belgaum, 3.70 crores from Delhi city, 53 lakhs from Noida, 26.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 14.75 lakhs from Kanpur, 39.65 lakhs from Lucknow, 7 lakhs from Agra, 3.05 lakhs from Allahabad, 6 lakhs from Meerut, 8.50 lakhs from Gorakhpur, 2 lakhs from Muzaffarnagar, 77.15 lakhs from Gurgaon, 23.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 4 lakhs from Zirakpur, 2.60 lakhs from Panipat, 2.50 lakhs from Pathankot, 1 crore from Calcutta, 5 lakhs from Guwahati, 32 lakhs from Nagpur, 2.75 lakhs from Jabalpur, 3.25 lakhs from Amravati, 2 lakhs from Akola, 1.75 lakhs from Dhule, 2 lakhs from Durg, 1.75 lakhs from Wardha, 2 lakhs from Chandrapur, 1.67 lakhs from Khandwa, 30.50 lakhs from Indore, 1.70 lakhs from Sehore, 10.30 lakhs from Bhopal, 33.25 lakhs from Jaipur, 3 lakhs (gross) from Ajmer, 4 lakhs from Bikaner, 2.15 lakhs from Kota, 94.15 lakhs from Hyderabad, 2.35 lakhs from Warangal, 3.35 lakhs from Aurangabad, 2.75 lakhs from Nanded, 2 lakhs from Parbhani and 9 lakhs from Mangalore and 1 lakh from Madurai. In its opening week, NEW YORK has netted an impressive 27.75 crores from India. The John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Irrfan Khan and Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer is an above average fare for its producers, who have made it on a modest budget of 20 crores and are also distributing it worldwide. NEW YORK has also done very well in the Overseas, grossing ?300,198 from UK and $789,171 from the US.
The other release of the same week, RUNWAY, saw the audience run away from the cinemas. The only prominent collections being 1.50 lakhs each from Bombay and Ahmedabad. Netting less than 10 lakhs in its opening week from India, the film proves to be a runaway disaster!
Moving on to Subhash Ghai's Paritosh Painter directed PAYING GUESTS, the film crashed in its second week. It collected 18 lakhs from Bombay, 5.15 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 8 lakhs from Delhi city, 1.50 lakhs from Noida, 1.10 lakhs from Kanpur, 2.75 lakhs from Lucknow, 2.50 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 1.75 lakhs from Jaipur and 1.35 lakhs from Aurangabad. Adding another crore, PAYING GUESTS has so far netted close to 7.25 crores in two weeks from India. With this the Shreyas Talpade, Javed Jaffery, Ashish Chaudhry, Celina Jaitley and Riya Sen starrer has escaped as a break even project, once the non-theatrical rights are accounted for.
Concluding our column for this week with Vashu Bhagnani's KAL KISSNE DEKHA, the Jackky-Vaishali debut vehicle is breathing its last with barely 10 lakhs from India. Just for records, the 30 crore KAL KISSNE DEKHA has ended its run with just about 7.85 crores in three weeks from India. The film is a trade disaster.
