Next Friday's big release is going to be Ashutosh Gowariker Productions Pvt. Ltd. and UTV Motion Pictures' JODHAA AKBAR. The Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan starrer is expected to embark on a good start, perhaps the best of the year so far. JODHAA AKBAR is likely to have a big release in India, at about 1350 screens, out of which 500 will be digital and 850 physical prints. However, one must also take into account the controversies that await the big budgeted 40 crore venture, especially in Rajasthan.
Both the releases of last Friday, Rohit Jugraj's SUPER STAR and Planman Motion Pictures' MITHYA, disappointed with a poor to dull start. While MITHYA expectedly got good reviews and is getting some benefit of it at select multiplexes, SUPER STAR could not impress even the critics (not to talk of the audience!), and is destined to lose all over.
The first release of February, Oracle Entertainment's RAMA RAMA KYA HAI DRAMAAA, featuring Rati Agnihotri, Anupam Kher, Neha Dhupia, Amrita Arora, Aashish Chaudhary and Rajpal Yadav, managed poor collections. The Chandrakant Singh directed film collected 40 lakhs from Bombay, 9.50 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.80 lakhs from Rajkot, 1 lakh each from Jamnagar and Nasik, 1.20 lakhs (gross) from Bhavnagar, 11.20 lakhs from Delhi city, 1.70 lakhs from Noida, 2 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1 lakh from Agra, 1.40 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1 lakh from Faridabad, 2.15 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.85 lakhs from Indore, 3.30 lakhs from Jaipur, and 8 lakhs from Hyderabad. With around 1.75 crores in its first week from India, RAMA RAMA KYA HAI DRAMAAA is all set to be a big flop.
Whatever the hopes people associated with SUNDAY had, vanished because the Rohit Shetty directed film crashed by nearly 60 percent in its second week. The film collected 90 lakhs from Bombay, 25.25 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3.70 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.65 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1.50 lakhs (gross) from Bhavnagar, 1.05 lakhs from Solapur, 2.60 lakhs from Nasik, 50 lakhs from Delhi city, 7.10 lakhs from Noida, 3.55 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1 lakh from Agra, 1.15 lakhs from Aligarh, 9.70 lakhs from Gurgaon, 3.80 lakhs from Faridabad, 1 lakh from Guwahati, 6.65 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.10 lakhs from Amravati, 1 lakh from Akola, 1.25 lakhs from Raipur, 4.75 lakhs from Indore, 12.75 lakhs from Jaipur and 8.50 lakhs from Hyderabad. Adding another 5.25 crores, SUNDAY has netted an ordinary 18.25 crores in two weeks from India. The Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan and Ayesha Takia starrer adds to the list of failures for 2008. The only consolation is that SUNDAY has fared much better than Ajay Devgan's last release HALLA BOL in the UK, as it has so far grossed a decent $359,206.
Moving on to another Ajay Devgan release, this time the Rajkumar Santoshi directed HALLA BOL; the movie is seeing its last few days of run in the cinemas. With barely 15 lakhs in its fourth week, HALLA BOL has so far netted just 14.65 crores from India. The Pankaj Kapur, Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan starrer is a flop in India and has also been rejected in the UK, grossing a poor $159,492 so far.
Ironical as it may sound but Bollywood's last couple of hits, rather blockbuster hits were the Christmas week releases. Checking out the first of those, Aamir Khan's directorial debut venture, TARE ZAMEEN PAR, the movie collected 37.50 lakhs from Bombay, 8.70 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 2.15 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.25 lakhs from Nasik, 17.50 lakhs from Delhi city, 3 lakhs from Noida, 1 lakh from Ghaziabad, 3.60 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.45 lakhs from Faridabad, 1 lakh from Guwahati, 6.15 lakhs from Nagpur, 1 lakh from Amravati, 4.15 lakhs from Indore, 2.65 lakhs from Bhopal, 1 lakh from Bikaner and 10 lakhs from Hyderabad. With another 2 crores, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has netted an impressive 57 crores in seven weeks from India. The Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan and Tisca Chopra starrer is now a blockbuster hit in India. TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has performed extremely well in the US, grossing $1,223,869, but has under-performed in the UK with a gross of $679,463. But given the overall collections in the overseas circuit, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR is a hit there.
Our last entry of the week is once again Anees Bazmee's WELCOME. The film managed to get in some more profits for its distributors, collecting 9 lakhs from Bombay, 3.55 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3.10 lakhs from Delhi city, 1 lakh each from Agra and Bareilly, 1.05 lakhs from Nagpur, 2 lakhs from Jaipur and 1.50 lakhs from Hyderabad. With another 50 lakhs during its latest outing, WELCOME has netted an impressive 73.75 crores in seven weeks from India. The Feroze Khan, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif starrer is a blockbuster hit in India. WELCOME is also a super hit in the overseas circuit, grossing $1,790,460 in the UK, while the unofficial US numbers (as publicized by the makers) are $ 1 million, though it has not been validated independently.