About four Hindi films released last Friday but it is Alone's heady mix of sex and horror that has managed to score at the box office. But, exhibitors are far from thrilled as they await a box office hit to ward off the January jinx.
'Alone' starring Bollywood's self-anointed horror queen Bipasha Basu with newcomer Karan Singh Grover has collected Rs 11.5 crore so far. On the other hand, Shankar's 'I' featuring Vikram in the lead has also been received well, doing an overall business of Rs 60 crore (in various languages), including Rs 6.5 crore for the Hindi version.
The other two films, 'Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene' and 'Crazy Cukkad Family' had a dismal opening and have failed to cross the Rs 50-lakh mark.
Says exhibitor Rajesh Thadani, "'pk' continues to remain steady and the last weekend collection of the film was Rs 5 crore. We hope 'Baby' and 'Dolly Ki Doli' will break the jinx."
The two films release this Friday and have, so far, garnered good trade buzz. While 'Dolly...' is Abhishek Dogra's directorial debut, 'Baby' has been helmed by Neeraj Pandey. Vishal Anand of Fun Cinemas says, "The poor quality of films (this year so far) has kept the audience away from theatres. We hope 'Baby', which has great star power, will help end January on a good note."
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh feels the upcoming four-day weekend will see more footfalls at the theatres. He says, "The Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey combo holds promise and 'Dolly Ki Doli' looks like a fun film. With these two releases, smiles will hopefully be back on the faces of theatre owners."
