With 'Don' and 'Jaan-E-Mann' occupying theatres across the country and 'Umrao Jaan' coming this Friday, there are no new films to hit the marquee.

Last week's movies

'Don' had registered a good opening weekend and one looked forward to an all important first week to pass through to declare the box office status. While some were quick to declare that film as a flop/disappointment/failure within a few shows of its release, the majority of reputed critics and analysts kept a close eye on the day to day flow in collections before passing the verdict. And the verdict is out - 'Don' is certainly a success and is now a safe film at the box office. A 25 crore opening is a testimony to this fact and there would not be a single soul who would call the film as a failure with collections like these right on the face.

With more than 4.5 crore and 1.75 crore coming from Mumbai and Delhi respectively, it was certainly not a bad outing for 'Don'. Delhi NCR was superb too with Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Kaushambi contributing with more than 1.5 crore. Ahmedabad boasted of 1.5 crore while Kolkata too had more than 1.25 crore coming in. All in all, the movie is special for many reasons that include a) It has taken a very good beginning, b) It has survived in spite of all the bashing from 90% of media forums, c) It is such a welcome relief (for many) to see him in an action role after all the mush he has been associated with for a decade now.

Any publicity is good publicity. This is something that indeed helped 'Don' while the lack of it resulted in 'Jaan-e-Mann' suffering most at the box office. While the reviews and appreciation for 'Jaan-e-Mann' was just the opposite, it was 'Don' that continued to be the first choice of many since it was all over the news channels, websites, print media, gossips, party circles, offices, colleges etc. on a 24X7 note. The question was, "Is Don good?" And since there were so many conflicting point of views [in extremes], it only helped in people checking it out for themselves rather than relying on word of mouth. On the other hand the buzz didn't really pick up for 'Jaan-e-Mann' as the film resembled a lost child who wasn't really been cared for.

Result? The film did have decent collections in Mumbai at 3 crores but for a selling price of 8 crores in this territory, it needed to have registered an all time high opening week there. Delhi was below average with 1 crore while the NCR was fair too at about 80 lakhs. Ahmedabad was good at 1 crore though Kolkata wasn't really up to the mark with sub-50 lakhs collections. Genuinely good treatment by Shirish Kunder helped the film gain 15 crores at the box office but there haven't been many signs of a pick up. The buzz is missing for the film at the end of week one and it would be miraculous now for 'Jaan-e-Mann' to come out without bruises. The movie would have to sustain itself tremendously at the box office to be able to call itself even a decent earner.

From the past

With 'Don' and 'Jaan-e-Mann' occupying majority of screens across the country, there was little or no chance for any of the films in the town to show any worthwhile collections, especially when it comes to those that released recently. 'Zindaggi Rocks' has been a major flop as it has been eliminated at 1.5 crore. Its chances at home theatre are negligible too since the film hasn't been liked with zero word of mouth.

'Woh Lamhe' crashed in its 4th week as it got home less than 10 lakhs to bring an aborted end to its box office run. An average runner in the final tally, it was originally staring at 7 crore but that seems a little distant now. Ditto for 'Khosla Ka Ghosla' which made the most of the open field it got before the biggies arrived. It didn't have any noteworthy collections to show in its 5th week and though the film is wrapping up below 5 crores, the DVDs/VCDs have garnered a bumper response and would be another steady source of revenue for the makers. Don't be surprised if just like 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron', this one too finds a reserved spot for itself on the DVD stands even a decade from now.

'Pyaar Ke Side Effects' too witnesses collections in thousands now hence giving a clear indication of an exit from the theatres. Wrapping up below 8.5 crores, PKSE is now busy making moolah in the DVD circuits. Amidst competition from 'Don' and 'Jaan-e-mann', only one film still managed to come out with flying colors - 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'. With more than 1 crore coming in again in its 8th week, it continues an unbelievable run at the box office with collections standing at around 68 crores.

In the future

His last film LOC at least took a very good opening but in case of J.P. Dutta's 'Umrao Jaan', surprisingly the coming together of even Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai too hasn't created much fire. Dutta may still be wondering hard on how to hype up his film further. The way 'Umrao Jaan' stands today with minimal hype and buzz, one can at maximum accept an above average opening but nothing better. And after that it will be left to the final product for any sustained run/pick up in the rest of the week.