Poor show at box-office

Out of the six Hindi films that released last Friday, Aiyyaa, Chittagong, Bhoot Returns, Ata Pata Laapata, Makkhi and Prem Mayee, not a single fared well at the box-office. In fact, it was previous week's English Vinglish and OMG Oh My God! that did better business during the weekend.

Confirmed Girish Wankhede, Marketing Head of Cinemax India, "All the new Hindi films that released last week were a complete washout. Only Makkhi got good reviews. It also received a good word of mouth publicity and so even we had expectations from that film, but unfortunately Indian audiences are not open to such live action, animation films and the movie too, suffered big time at the box-office." He further adds, "Interestingly English ..., which is in its second week and OMG, in its third week have fared well. Both the films had an occupancy of 40 per cent on Friday, 60 per cent on Saturday and 80 per cent on Sunday at Cinemax, all over India.

Though Hindi films suffered at the BO, international films Looper and Taken 2 performed well. According to Wankhede, the movies had an above average opening weekend.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra blames the festivities and the college exams for the bad opening of the films. He explains, "People are busy with Navratri celebrations. October is also a crucial month for students, who are busy with their exams. But you can't cite these excuses for the films which have no content. So, considering, the large number of movies which did badly at the BO, I would call this the worst week of the year for Bollywood."

Meanwhile, Rani Mukerji's Aiyyaa, directed by a National Award winning director Sachin Kundalkar, failed to garner audience in single screens too. According to Constancio Barbosa, Assistant Manager of Regal Cinema, Mumbai, the movie had a collection of Rs.13,380.60 on Friday, Rs.23,370.75 on Saturday and Rs.23,879.90 on Sunday.

... contd.

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