By:
Taran
Adarsh,
IndiaFM
Thursday,
June
14,
2007
Imagine
being
served
five
varied
flavored
biryani
as
you
perch
on
the
seat
for
supper!
What
does
one
feast
on?
That's
the
predicament
of
a
viewer
when
five
Hindi
films
[excludes
Hollywood
film
OCEAN'S
13,
which
also
released
simultaneously],
hit
the
screens
last
Friday
--
The
Train,
mp3,
Swami,
Dharm
and
Red
Swastik.
There
are
two
ways
to
look
at
it.
With
so
many
films
opening
at
one
go,
the
viewer
has
ample
choice
to
choose
the
movie
that
excites
him
most.
It's
a
consumer's
market
any
way.
On
the
flip
side,
the
common
man
doesn't
have
the
time,
money
or
inclination
to
watch
so
many
films
at
one
go,
so
a
few
films
are
bound
to
get
sidelined.
Also,
with
a
biggie
like
Jhoom
Barabar
Jhoom
round
the
corner,
the
films
preceding
a
biggie
are,
most
of
the
times,
given
a
royal
ignore.
Last
year,
the
popularity
of
one
song
--
'Jhalak
Dikhlaja'
[from
Aksar]
--
was
enough
to
draw
the
audiences
to
theatres.
But
the
popularity
of
'Woh
Ajnabee'
from
The
Train
[produced
by
Aksar
makers,
Shyam
and
Narendra
Bajaj]
didn't
find
many
takers.
Despite
terrific
promotion,
the
film
only
weakened
as
days
progressed.
mp3
had
a
dull
start
[expectedly],
but
the
collections
began
to
soar
upwards
from
Saturday
itself.
The
film
showed
an
increase
on
Sunday
as
well,
although
the
rise
wasn't
meteoric.
Monday
onwards,
it
was
on
the
lower
side
again.
But
there's
hope
in
its
second
weekend,
at
select
multiplexes
at
least.
Swami
too
picked
up
over
the
weekend,
but
at
a
handful
of
multiplexes.
Dharm
had
an
erratic
weekend.
Some
places
nice,
some
places
extremely
poor.
Red
Swastik
didn't
create
ripples
either.
In
a
nutshell,
barring
mp3,
there
wasn't
much
to
look
forward
to
this
weekend.
Sad
indeed!
THIS
WEEK
IN
2006
[Weekend:
June
9-11,
2006]
Everyone
knew
Phir
Hera
Pheri
would
open
big.
But
its
record
start
came
as
a
pleasant
surprise.
The
Akshay-Suniel-Paresh
laughathon
had
embarked
on
a
bigger
and
better
start
than
the
mighty
Fanna
at
places.
In
fact,
at
several
centres
of
Uttar
Pradesh
as
also
at
Akola,
Bhilai,
Chandrapur,
Raipur
and
Yavatmal,
the
opening
day
collections
were
bigger
than
the
opening
day
figures
of
Fanna
[as
per
the
distributor's
written
statement
to
this
writer].
On
the
other
hand,
Priyadarshan
wasn't
lucky
this
time.
Ironically,
his
new
release,
Chup
Chup
Ke,
lost
out
to
none
other
than
the
brand
he
created
six
years
ago
[Hera
Pheri].
That's
life
--
unpredictable
to
the
T.
Another
surprising
aspect
is
that
Shahid
and
Kareena's
36
China
Town
had
a
potent
65%-75%
start
at
several
screens,
while
the
opening
numbers
of
Chup
Chup
Ke,
released
a
month
later,
ranged
from
a
decent
60%
to
a
shockingly
low
30%
at
places.
How
does
one
explain
this?
Next