Two veterans, both with a huge fan following in their peak, Sridevi in Mom and Paresh Rawal in Guest Iin London, were expected to lead the charge at the box office. If one looked at the making of both the films, the production costs looks moderate. But, what matters is how much the theatrical rights have been sold for. And, in that sense, Mom riding the crest.

The best recent film of moderate budget to excel has been Hindi Medium which achieved a high figure of about Rs 65 crore at the domestic box office. In case of Mom, the price at which it is sold and the kind of reports it has generated, it may fall short of its target by lengths. The difference is that, while Hindi Medium was an entertainer, Mom is a designed to be heavy film. And, they are not usually worth Rs 200 to 1000 that their admission rates command. No need to say, the eventual sufferers are the cinema chains.

Mom had an inherent drawback in that an earlier film, Raveen Tandon starrer, Maatr, was based on the same theme. Since, the films are now made for the multiplex audience, a lot of the patrons would realize that Mom is just a female version of 1974 Hollywood trendsetter, Death Wish.

*Mom opened to very weak response on Friday despite an overambitious release strategy as it was released across more screens than the film justified. The result was that many screens showed collection in few hundreds which showed on the film’s first day collections of a bare Rs 2.4 crore (Rs 24 million). The film showed an expected rise on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend collections according to trade sources are estimates are little over Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) while those released by the makers are over 14 crore.

*Guest Iin London proves a damp squib. Following in the formula of Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, which was no great shakes in itself, the film backfires in Toto. One must be really out of sync with the realities to think that another instalment of Paresh Rawal giving a noisy outlet to his stomach problem amounted to a comedy! It is a juvenile stuff to say the least. With the first day figures of Rs 1.2 crore.

*Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha has had a poor run at the box office with just Rs 1.05 crore to show while the weekend collected Rs 4.2 crore.

* Tubelight, Salman Khan’s home production, sold at an exorbitant price which needed to do a business which none of his films has done before, is a total disaster. Strange that the film won’t even manage a lifetime business of what his film Sultan did in its opening weekend. The film had collected over 180 crore in its five day extended weekend.

The film has added Rs 10.6 crore in its second week taking its two week tally to Rs 114.3 crore.

*Bahubali2: The Conclusion has added about Rs 30 lakh in its 10th week.