Bollywood box-office report of the week

The only new release of the coming Friday is going to be Oracle Entertainment's RAMA RAMA KYA HAI DRAMAA. Directed by Chandrakant Singh and featuring Rati Agnihotri, Anupam Kher, Neha Dhupia, Amrita Arora, Aashish Chaudhary and Rajpal Yadav, the film may appeal at the small centres and select cinemas of Bombay.

Last Friday's Rohit Shetty directed Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan and Ayesha Takia starrer, SUNDAY, disappointed with its opening. The film which was expected to give the Hindi film industry its first success of the year, got off to a dull start in Bombay and its opening was weak almost everywhere. Though there was some pick-up noticed in Bombay as the weekend progressed ( to an extent in Delhi city also), it was not very significant or pronounced. However, SUNDAY managed to gross a reasonable $161,059 from the UK during the opening weekend, which is more than what Devgan's last film HALLA BOL earned till date.

The first week of Nagesh Kukunoor's Shreyas Talpade starrer BOMBAY TO BANGKOK proved to be a horrendous journey for all concerned, as the movie had dismal collections to show. Checking out the actual reported numbers, BOMBAY TO BANGKOK collected 50 lakhs from Bombay, 8.25 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 20 lakhs from Delhi city, 4.20 lakhs from Noida, 5 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 2.30 lakhs from Lucknow, 3.70 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.85 lakhs from Faridabad, 2.25 lakhs from Indore, 1.55 lakhs from Jaipur, 10 lakhs from Calcutta and 6.65 lakhs from Hyderabad. Netting a poor 1.60 crores in its first week from India, BOMBAY TO BANGKOK is an unquestionable flop.

After a disappointing opening week, Rajkumar Santoshi's Pankaj Kapur, Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan starrer, HALLA BOL crashed totally. The movie collected 38.50 lakhs from Bombay, 15 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.55 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1 lakh (gross) from Bhavnagar, 3.60 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.30 lakhs from Nasik, 36 lakhs from Delhi city, 5 lakhs from Noida, 6.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 5.50 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.20 lakhs from Agra, 1 lakh from Dehradun, 1.40 lakhs from Meerut, 1.25 lakhs from Aligarh, 5.20 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.30 lakhs from Faridabad, 1.30 lakhs from Nagpur, 2.25 lakhs from Indore, 8.30 lakhs from Jaipur, 7.30 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1.15 lakhs from Vijaywada. With another 3.50 crores, HALLA BOL has so far netted 14 crores in two weeks from India. The Abdol Samee Siddiqui produced HALLA BOL is now a major flop of 2008, though the real losers are the worldwide distributors, Pyramid Saimira. The Santoshi-Devgan project has also been rejected in the UK, grossing just $156,525.

With the 2008 releases failing to attract the audiences, it augurs well for older films like Anees Bazmee's WELCOME. The film manages to collect 33 lakhs from Bombay, 12.25 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.50 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1 lakh each from Bhavnagar and Nasik, 1.40 lakhs from Solapur, 20.50 lakhs from Delhi city, 2 lakhs from Noida, 5.40 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 5 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.25 lakhs from Agra, 1.25 lakhs each from Agra and Dehradun, 1.05 lakhs from Moradabad, 2.35 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.65 lakhs from Faridabad, 3 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.60 lakhs from Amravati, 1 lakh from Akola, 1.60 lakhs from Indore, 5.10 lakhs from Jaipur, 2.10 lakhs from Aurangabad and 7 lakhs from Hyderabad. Adding another 2.75 crores, WELCOME has so far netted 72.50 crores in five weeks from India. The Feroze, Anil, Nana, Akshay and Katrina starrer is a blockbuster hit in India, given its distribution price (including cost of print and publicity). In the Overseas, Firoz Nadidadwala's WELCOME is already a superhit, grossing $1,762,418 in the UK and over $ 1 million (as per Studio 18) though the US numbers have not been audited / validated.

Let us now checkout the performance of another release from last year, Aamir Khan's TAARE ZAMEEN PAR. The film continues its rock steady run! Checking out the fifth week numbers, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR collected 97 lakhs from Bombay, 23 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 2.75 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.50 lakhs from Jamnagar, 1.35 lakhs (gross) from Bhavnagar, 4.10 lakhs Nasik, 66 lakhs from Delhi city, 7.50 lakhs from Noida, 8.50 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 6 lakhs from Lucknow, 1.15 lakhs from Agra, 1.85 lakhs from Meerut, 1.10 lakhs from Moradabad, 8.60 lakhs from Gurgaon, 3.75 lakhs from Faridabad, 10.30 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.05 lakhs from Amravati, 2.60 lakhs from Raipur, 1 lakh from Yavatmal, 5.10 lakhs from Indore, 3 lakhs from Bhopal, 5.10 lakhs from Jaipur, 1.30 lakhs from Guwahati, 35 lakhs from Calcutta, 2 lakhs from Aurangabad and 19.50 lakhs from Hyderabad. With another 5.50 crores during its latest outing, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has netted an impressive 51.50 crores in five weeks from India. The Darsheel, Aamir and Tisca starrer is almost a blockbuster from India, based on its release cost (including that for price and publicity). TAARE ZAMEEN PAR has done very well in the US, grossing $1,215,707 but has underperformed in the UK with a gross of $663,362. But given the overall collections in the overseas circuit, TAARE ZAMEEN PAR is a hit there.

In the end, let us once again checkout Farah Khan's OM SHANTI OM. The movie increased its reported centres total in the eleventh week, as compared to the tenth, netting around 8 lakhs! The all India total now stands at close to 86.25 crores. The Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade and Deepika Padukone starrer, OM SHANTI OM, an ATBB (All time blockbuster) in India, is also a blockbuster in the Overseas, grossing

Source