Three's a crowd at the box office

Again a crowded week and the end result spelling a disaster at the box office! Three major Bollywood films - Chakravyuh, Ajab Gazabb Love and Rush released in the same week, eating into each other's business and spelling doom for its investors.

A still from Chakravyuh

While Chakravyuh collected Rs 10.87 crore (Wednesday - Rs 3.36 cr, Thursday - Rs 1.75 cr, Friday - Rs 1.50 cr, Saturday - Rs 1.75 cr, Sunday - Rs 2.50 cr) in its first five days (the film released on a Wednesday), Azab Gazabb Love made R 4.75 crore (Friday - Rs 1.25 cr, Saturday - Rs 1.50 cr, Sunday - Rs 2 cr) in its initial weekend. Finally the Emraan Hashmi starrer Rush made only Rs 2.16 crore (Friday - Rs 52 lakh, Saturday - Rs 66 lakh, Sunday - R 98 lakh) in its first weekend.

Meanwhile, the collections of Student of the Year in its first week are R 47.52 crore and second weekend are Rs 2.10 crore on Friday, Rs 3.25 crore on Saturday and R 4.75 crore on Sunday making its weekend total to R 10.10 crore. The total collection from its first 10 days is R 57.62 crore making it one of the biggest hits with newcomers.

The worst film to be affected by the mad rush was Azab Gazabb Love who in spite of decent reviews only managed to collect around Rs 4.75 crore. Our source says, "Much was expected out of Chakravyuh as it was a Prakash Jha film but the collections could have been better. Rush is a complete disaster at the box office."

Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, "There is nothing to write home about. The period is extremely bad and will remain so till Diwali."

Atul Mohan, trade expert elaborates, "It is a classic case of too many cooks spoil the broth. How else would you explain the dismal collections of a Prakash Jha film or a good entertainer like Azab Gazabb Love? An Emraan Hashmi film doesn't bring in the masses? I guess too many English films also divided the audience. Next week is going to be equally bad!"
(Figures courtesy - Box Office India)