Slow and steady wins the race goes a popular English axiom. It seems the same axiom applies in race between Shah Rukh Khan`s masala entertainer, DILWALE versus Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s historical love story BAJIRAO MASTANI.

DILWALE which took off to an excellent start on day one i.e. Friday by collecting Rs 21 Crore and continued its stronghold till Sunday with Rs 24 Crore finally lost its sheen on day four i.e. Monday by dropping to a mere Rs 10.09 Crore!

In contrast the dark horse Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s BAJIRAO MASTANI, which began on a slow start on Friday with Rs 12.80 Crore, soon gained momentum with word of mouth publicity on day two i.e. Saturday and collected Rs 15.52 Crore. On Sunday it eventually registered an even better show with Rs 18.45 Crore.

What is surprising is that on Monday, which is regarded as the 'Acid Test' day for any movie (because it is a working day) DILWALE nosedived to over 50 per cent, in contrast BAJIRAO MASTANI`s witnessed an upward raise of over 10 - 15 per cent. Thus while DILWALE collected Rs 10.09 crore on Monday; BAJIRAO MASTANI went ahead and fetched Rs. 10.25 cr.

Interestingly peeved at the drop in collection of his film DILWALE at the box office Mr. Shah Rukh Khan has alleged that the film has seen a decline as many of his fans have been hurt by his growing intolerance remark.

But Mr. Khan, if I am not mistaken, before the release of the film you had apologised for your comment on ABP News` Special Show Press Conference, (though it was obviously a political stunt to promote your film!)

Now that your film has flopped why play blame- game? Why don`t you simply accept that your movie is poor on content and quality in comparison to Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s magnificent epic BAJIRAO MASTANI?

This article is from Raaga's music blog. Read more at http://blog.raaga.com