How the mighty fell!

It's with a heavy heart that I begin to put my thoughts for this business piece. There's a tinge of sadness since the two biggies, KIDNAP and DRONA, have sunk at the box-office.

I presume, you must be well aware of how KIDNAP and DRONA opened last Thursday, on the festive occasion of Eid. We at 'Bollywood Hungama' have carried a series of as many as six articles since their release -- B.O. Update, Midweek, Indore Barometer I, Indore Barometer II, U.K. Report Card and Overseas B.O. . Now let's move on to the next level. The vital question. Will the films lose money? Of course, they're losers, financially speaking. The theatrical business of both KIDNAP and DRONA came sliding downwards from Day 2 [Friday] itself, but crashed completely from Monday onwards. In the domestic market, the film has seen a 70% - 80% drop [at places, even 90%]. Imagine the shock the distributors must've got when they must've seen the daily collections reports.

Studio 18, the distributors of KIDNAP, will lose a couple of crores, as per the current trends. The domestic market has been poor and Overseas is below par as well. And once the reports are out, even the Satellite price will now be badly hit. Hence, recovering the Rs. 40 cr. cost seems like a remote possibility.

As for DRONA, it's a back-breaking debacle. People are already comparing this misadventure to supreme disasters like RAZIA SULTAN and ROOP KI RANI CHORON KA RAJA and more recently, RGV KI AAG and LOVE STORY 2050. The theatrical business as also the international business is so poor that Eros is expected to lose a substantial chunk of investment.

Any lessons learnt? I watched KIDNAP almost one week before its release and also DRONA and I was very vocal when it came to expressing my opinion to the respective producers [Mehtas and Lullas, respectively]. It's high time our producers don't merely pump crores into a project, but also have creative control in their hands. Most directors tend to fall in love with their products and lose objectivity. Let's not get swayed by big names!