The pre-Diwali period saw a few flops.
Judwaa2 saved the situation to some extent for the exhibition section providing relief with a considerable number of footfalls for a couple of weeks. Besides this, Newton was in news, a small film which got some favourable box office but more media hype as it was chosen as India’s entry to the Oscars the same day it released.
Sadly, among other failures, the wrong release plan made a yesteryear star out of Saif Ali Khan in a single Friday as his latest release, Chef, went grossly unnoticed.
Besides this, a lot of small films get playtime at the multiplexes during such dull periods and we had films like Daddy, Lucknow Central, Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi, Bhoomi, Haseena Parkar, Tu Hai Mera Sunday, Ranchi Diaries and such.
Though there is no hyped film releasing this Diwali, the exhibitors can take some comfort in the fact that the small film due for release during the Diwali this year is Aamir Khan’s Secret Superstar which should balance things with the other release, Golmaal Returns. The advantage with Golmaal Returns is that, it is the fourth instalment of the Golmaal series and earlier, two out of three have worked well.
What is also good about Golmaal Returns is its genre is that, it is just the film one would hope to watch during the festive period of Diwali this being a feel good comedy entertainer.
This week: The latest release, Ranchi Diaries, does not amount to anything. The films shows are either cancelled or passed on to Judwaa 2. This is not good enough for the multiplexes, a sort of a compromise, yet, better than screening Ranchi Dairies. This was the last disaster of the wrong period, wrong release.
In the last week release, Saif Ali Khan starrer, Chef is a disaster. Surprised that T Series, having invested more than Rs 250 million in the film, agree to such a compromised release strategy! Rather suicidal.
* Ranchi Diaries finds no audience. Goes unnoticed.
* Chef, the last week’s release, emerges very poor. The film collects just about Rs 51.5 million in its first week.
* Judwaa2 sets a kind of record for the second week as it collects Rs 264 million for its second week to take its two week total to Rs 1.23 million.
* Newton is still holding well in its third week having collected Rs 16 million in its third week and taking its three week total to Rs 175.5 million.
