BIG-ticket Hollywood releases, especially Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar', seem to have ensured a lackluster opening for 'Rang Rasiya' and 'The Shaukeens'. While Ketan Mehta's 'Rang Rasiya' is a biopic of controversial painter Raja Ravi Varma and had created a stir for a frontal nudity scene, the other is a comic take on three old men lusting after a young woman. However, neither was quite successful in drawing crowds to the theaters.
Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, "The last weekend was exceptionally bad for the industry. Though Shaukeens was made at a moderate budget, it is unlikely to recover its costs as the collections over Saturday and Sunday did not pick up. It has managed to collect around Rs 19 crore so far."
Meanwhile, the Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen-starrer, 'Rang Rasiya', received critical appreciation but that hardly translated into a decent collection. Exhibitor Rajesh Thadani says, "The word-of-mouth publicity didn't really help any of the films this week. 'Rang Rasiya' has collected only Rs 2.5 crore."
The last fortnight has been rather dull for exhibitors with Farah Khan's 'Happy New Year' being the only reason to cheer about. According to Red Chillies Entertainment's figures, the film has collected a total of Rs 199 crore.
'Interstellar' was the pick of the week, says Vishal Anand, head-Operations, Fun Cinemas. He adds: "It overshadowed everything else. In fact, other Hollywood releases from last week also have been a treat for the audience."
