Lukewarm response to last week's releases - 'Karle Pyaar Karle', 'Miss Lovely' and 'Paranthewali Gali' - has left distributors distraught

Last Friday's releases, namely, Karle Pyaar Karle, Miss Lovely and Parathewali Gali were not expected to rake in the moolah at the box office but the total collection of the three films hasn't even touched Rs 2 crore.

While Miss Lovely led the way with collections to the tune of Rs 50lac, Karle Pyaar Karle fetched Rs 1 cr and Parathewali Gali earned Rs 30 lac. Vishal Anand, head operations and sales of Fun Cinema, said, `Barring Dedh ishqiya & Yaariyan, all films have fared poorly at the BO.

This is anyway the season for award films with Hollywood's Oscar frontrunners being screened in theatres. Currently, Wolf Of Wall Street and American Hustle have been doing well with the audiences, particularly in the multiplexes. We are expecting some brisk business starting January 24 with Jai Ho.''

Trade pundits are not surprised by the dismal performance of all three films. Trade analyst Amod Mehra said, `All three films that released last week failed to make waves at the box office. The English film American Hustle made decent business even as last week's release Yaariyan eyes breakeven. Dedh Ishqiya, on the other hand, has won critical acclaim but it hasn't translated into numbers.`


Exhibitors are hoping to make up for the downward spiral with the release of Salman Khan's Jai Ho next week. Manoj Desai of G-7 multiplexes said, that he plans to screen Jai Ho in both Gaiety and Galaxy. `My third theatre will continue to show the Marathi blockbuster, Timepass,` he said.

Not surprisingly, several shows of the three films that released last Friday have been cancelled across cinema halls in the city. Confirming the news, trade analyst Komal Nahata said, `Yaariyan's second weekend earnings was barely Rs 3.25 crore, while Dedh Ishqiya earned just Rs 4 crore.`