We Are Family gets decent opening weekend

Opening of We Are Family pretty much followed the script, as it took an opening in the vicinity of 50% on Friday. When the film was shown at select multiplexes on Thursday, especially in Delhi and Mumbai, with restricted number of shows (4-5), it saw a better response with over 70% occupancy, primarily due to the Janmashtami holiday. All in all, an extended weekend with collections of Rs.14 crores was good enough to take the film past the safety path.

This, however, is far lesser than Karan Johar's last release I Hate Luv Storys, which netted Rs.23 crores in the first weekend. What had worked in favour of the Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor starrer was hit music, a fresh pairing and a good theme, which worked for the target multiplex audience. On the other hand, We Are Family has a family theme, which means a terrific opening is always ruled out. A couple of factors that further hindered the film were average promos and non-happening music, which got flak from most quarters. This is the reason why eventually it all settled down to good performances by Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal that saved the day.

The film has seen decent reviews coming its way with not many praising the film to the skies or dusting it down. The word of mouth has ranged from 'theek thaak' to good, which means We Are Family should settle down as an average affair. Will it continue to stick to theaters for an extended run? Well, it would be a wait and watch approach because Dabangg would totally dominate the show after its release. This means We Are Family will get a hit in its second weekend. However, post the Dabangg euphoria, this Siddharth Malhotra directed fare may just manage to enjoy a longer innings ahead due to no competition till 24th September before Anjaana Anjaani hits the screen.

The other two releases of the week - Mallika and Emotional Atyachar - got totally sidelined due to We Are Family being a major competition. Even though Mallika was promoted optimally, especially considering the fact that it was a non-starcast affair and belonged to the horror genre, the film didn't find any taker. In fact, the film also saw terrible reviews coming its way, which proved to be a further nail in the coffin. No pun intended.

Emotional Atyachar was an interesting film and poor production values notwithstanding, its storytelling did ensure a captivating watch. However, near to nil promotion coupled with a senseless title that didn't give an iota of an idea about what the film was all about, meant that this ensemble cast affair saw zilch footfalls on its opening weekend. Even though Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey 'jodi' has been loved all over again with Kalki Koechlin too managing some eyeballs, Emotional Atyachar would have to search for its audience on home video. As for satellite medium, it is doubtful if channels will pay a fancy amount for it, courtesy the expletives that occur every five minutes in the film.