“We didn’t depend upon kisses and catfights to succeed” – Luv Ranjan

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

June 3, 2011 - 3:16 AM IST

Pyaar Ka Punchnama is a success. This 'all-youngster-newcomers' film has managed to sustain remarkably at the box office despite competition from half a dozen (successful) Hollywood as well as (flop) Bollywood films ever since it's release. Though there was gloom that had descended upon the makers when opening Friday didn't show good collections with Johnny Depp and his Pirates walking away with all the honours and the audience, Pyaar Ka Punchnama hung on and then started showing good escalation in numbers as an out and out positive word of mouth spread around this 'perceived anti-women' film.

"And to think of it, the kind of reports that we are getting are pretty much conveying that women are loving the film as much as men", says first time director Luv Ranjan who is surprisingly sounding pretty balanced despite delivering a success in the times when films from reputed banners are also falling left, right and centre, "They are liking the fact that we are bitching about them but in a playful manner. Andar se unke bhi pata hai ki sachchai kya hai. But since it is all light hearted, no one seems to mind that."

“We didn’t depend upon kisses and catfights to succeed” – Luv Ranjan

It wasn't as much of a light hearted scenario for debutant producer Abhishek Pathak (son of Kumar Mangat) though when the film opened to a disheartening response. He says, "We didn't mind spending well on the money and hence were looking forward to a very good opening weekend to sail us through. When collections weren't as per our expectations on the opening day, we were taken aback for sure. Thank goodness the rule of 'rake in moolah in the opening weekend or forget about your film doing well' didn't apply for us."

Happy with the kind of money that the film is minting now, Abhishek adds, "The collections are speaking for themselves as Pyaar Ka Punchnama has turned out to be the only film so far this year which, at so many places, is showing better collections in it's second weekend when compared to the first. Even weekdays have been rock steady which breaks the myth that even good films have to depend entirely on weekends. Sometimes you do enjoy success in an old fashioned way; you know the kind where a film runs in theaters for weeks at stretch and is then declared a hit."

Claims by the young producer-director duo do come with a good basis. Even though the number of shows for Pyaar Ka Punchnama have been reduced to half in it's second week due to arrival of two Hollywood blockbusters, the collections have been almost the same as the last week which means the occupancy has doubled. In the times when it is just the inverse for even biggies, word of mouth for Pyaar Ka Punchnama has come as a welcome respite."

"What is more gladdening is that no one is talking about the kisses that each of the three couples share in the film", says Luv who had clearly instructed his promotional team not to highlight any such scenes in the promos or the PR drive, "Girls in the film are wearing bikinis, getting drenched during rain dance and are also kissing their partners. It would have been convenient for us to float stories around this or create controversies around cat fights between the girls. You didn't hear that, right? And that's because this is not the kind of sensibility that any one of us wanted to operate with. The story was about the boys and their stint with girls. Now that everyone is talking about that, I can say that the film has worked for what it is."

The film is now staring at competition from Ready which releases this Friday and is expected to eat away shows of all other films in its vicinity.

"Yes I am aware about that but I am keeping my fingers crossed. When Jab We Met was immediately followed by Om Shanti Om, its shows were reduced too. However after a week, it was back in theatres in a big way. I am quite positive the story will repeat itself for Pyaar Ka Punchnama as well", says Abhishek in a positive tone.

Fingers crossed.