Just when everything was going right, with ROCK ON!! and A WEDNESDAY consolidating their status and 1920 trying to settle down, the bomb blasts in Delhi on Saturday evening threw a spanner. The unfortunate, dastardly attacks in the capital sent shivers across the nation. It has been noticed time and again that such unfortunate attacks hit film business hard. The fear factor keeps prospective ticket buyers away from plexes.
1920 had a decent start at Delhi and Mumbai specifically, but the blasts in Delhi on Saturday and Ganpati visarjan in Mumbai/Maharashtra on Sunday slowed its business at these two metros specifically. The opening weekend nett was approx. Rs. 3.10 crores and I am sure, it would've been more robust had the blasts not occurred.
But 1920 seems to be in comfort zone. Besides theatrical revenue, Bhatt and his partners hope to tap the international markets by dubbing the film in various foreign languages, which could open the doors for so many films that have a strong story to tell, but not strong face-value to attract the Mumbai-based Overseas distributors. Besides, Bhatt also has Satellite and Home Video rights.
Back to 1920's theatrical business. Monday was at par with Friday and at places, better than Friday. Most films fall below the Friday level on Monday, but in this case, the collections were maintaining fine. The film is slowly and steadily inching past the 'Average' box-office status.
I am not surprised by the non-response to RU-BA-RU. The promotions should begin almost two months prior to release and should get more and more aggressive as the release date draws closer. But RU-BA-RU came without any hype whatsoever. The makers should've pushed the film hard, but the scant awareness only reflected in its business. It's a fiasco!
The fate of THE LAST LEAR doesn't surprise me. The film hit headlines days before its release… actually, THE LAST LEAR got a lot of mileage in the media. People were hoping that the film would open well due to the front-page importance in newspapers and prime time prominence on TV, but the opening was thanda. Released at a handful of cities, the film didn't even fetch rave reviews, which normally comes as a booster for art house cinema. In fact, the ratings ranged from average to below average.
The theatrical business of THE LAST LEAR has been lukewarm, despite the presence of Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal and Preity Zinta in its cast. One of the reasons could be that India is yet to open up to English language films, starring desis and also helmed by desis. Besides, THE LAST LEAR, in my individualistic opinion, is too abstract. Expectedly, even the plexes wore a deserted look, shattering the myth that art house cinema always finds its supporters at plexes.
