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By Thursday morning, when the city was appraised of the grim situation, Bollywood had already evaluated the response that films releasing on November 28 – ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ and ‘Sorry Bhai’ — would start counting their losses.
The films received better responses in other parts of the country but with most theatres in Mumbai out of operation over Thursday and Friday, business at box office was not more than 30 per cent of what it could have been otherwise. As Ranjan Singh, general manager and head of marketing, PVR Pictures, had earlier said, “Theatres were totally closed in Mumbai on Thursday and Friday. In this situation, it is very difficult to quantify the total amount of loss. But as per my estimate, it is around Rs 3- Rs 4 lakh per multiplex per day.”
Despite having received rave reviews, director Dibaker Bannerjee’s ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ saw a grim opening over the weekend, with a mere 20 per cent response. “The entire nation was mourning over the loss. Who was in the mood? We ourselves forgot all about the film till Sunday,” rues Bannerjee.
Mumbai Mantra, the distributors of ‘Sorry Bhai’, were unwilling to share the figures but clearly spelt out the doom. Vikramjit Roy, head of Mumbai Mantra, says that ‘Sorry Bhai’ opened only on November 28- and the fact that it is in its second week means a lot, given that it was faced with all odds upon opening.
Always reflecting the mood of the country, box-office sales picked up once the coup was over. “Many returned to the theatres, especially in the suburbs of Mumbai,” claims Ramesh Sippy, president of the distributors’ association.
Roy confirms Sippy’s claim, “’Sorry Bhai’ figures have shot up by 30 per cent.” Siddharth Roy Kapoor, CEO, UTV, producers and distributors of ‘Oye Lucky’, even released a statement to the effect. After a weak opening, the film has been doing very well across the country. Our weekend gross collections were Rs 4.6 crore, it states.
Amidst the mayhem in the city, two films that were to release alongside the aforementioned — ‘Khallballi’ and ‘The President is Coming’ — backed out last moment, predicting lack of business and, as Rohan Sippy, producer of President, says, “keeping with the sentiment”. The film will now release mid-January. “December end has a few big releases lined up. A good film should get its due.”
Trade pundits feel that the industry is going through a rough patch, which started with the recession and has worsened with the terror attacks. But the industry, as usual, rides on optimism. Tushar Dhingra, COO, Big Cinemas, expects the slump to be short-term. Big Cinemas, the theatre chain belonging to the Reliance Anil Ambani Group (ADAG), resumed operations on Friday after remaining shut on Thursday. “We are hoping that things will get back to normal soon,” he adds.
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First of all it is very disappointing that terrorist attacks are allowed to happen repeatedly in India. If the US can find out there is going to be an attack on India, where the hell is Indian security apparatus? Sleeping? I hate to say it but Indians are not very good at organizing. We have the old coward politicians in their 70's who don't have the courage to do anything. All they bloody do is walk around in their white dhoti's as if they are still living in the 50's and 60's. India needs to organize and blow the shit out of Pakistani ISI headquarters. Take out the Pak nuke facilities and send in the army.
I am discriminated for Job here in India.I only regret why my ancestors didn't migrated to Pakistan or bangladesh.We were thinking of Maulana Azad theory but he has also realized after Sardar Patel attitude.I were a lover of India before 1992 Babri Mosque Incident.But I were wrong.We here India are creating PAkitan and Bangladesh every month by doing discrimination.Paksitan is just a thought of standing against injustice.[They are against Israel but sadly now for our own interest we are with Isreal whihc all world knows is the root cause of All Problem]Why not our politicians understand this basic thing.I am very Sad about what a divide is happening day by day in our country.
good riddance. Please go soon. We will sponsor the airfare business class
no body is begging you to stay in India.please go and join your stupid fellow-cultists in the failed nations of Pak and B'desh.
I feel sorry on your view but i will like to say that please go through the position of minorities in the countries u mentioned ur ancestor should have migrated . the bihari muslim who migrated to bangladesh is still living in refugee camps 53 yrs after independence. but that doesnt absolve the state of India for the state of muslims in india instead of bringing them in mainstream they have issolated them wiht wrong policies
Well, Alibhai, even now it is not too late, no offence meant. And I bet that you will be back in 6 months.
I shal tell you, why. Because with all its faults, India is a well-managed democratic country which gives a lot of freedom to all including Moslems, and that is why you are able to write freely in this blog. Can you do it in Malaysia, or in Pakistan, if you were a Hindu?
Indian public should go and watch all the Muslim made movies, with actors like Shahruk Khan, Amir, Salman, Farah, Diya etc. in it. This will make them multi billionaire on the money of hindus, and hence will prove that Hindus are a tolerant and secular and democratic people. If that profit is partly used to fund gangsters and their jihadi brothers, they will feel happy and can enjoy, which will reduce their mood to murder Hindus. The terrorist problem will be solved and misguided minority youth will come back to mainstream. The same applies to John Abraham movies, who can use his profits to fund the priests in Orissa and North East to make them happy and bring them into mainstream.
It is because of peace loving, pseudo secular, self proclaimed splineless-shameless-thickskinned people like you that India is faced with threat. Enough has been tolerated and beyond a certain limit it is time for war. an eye for an eye would make everyone blind, yes. but i'd rather go blind along with disabling pakistan and its terrorists.
Wow!! Either you are unbelivably dumb or you have a sadly perverted sense of Humour. Whatever the excuse, this post is in very very bad taste.
i am sad to hear from you. but i would like to tell you we are not stopping you from going to pakistan and bangladesh. just kindly dont compare these two countries to india with all your complaints u are actually insultng all the secular elements just pointing out one or few incidents mind you u will be still safe in india than in these two countries
i am sad to hear from you. but i would like to tell you we are not stopping you from going to pakistan and bangladesh. just kindly dont compare these two countries to india with all your complaints u are actually insultng all the secular elements just pointing out one or few incidents mind you u will be still safe in india than in these two countries