Abhishek set a new record for maximum public appearances in 12 hours while promoting the film.The question is, how has ‘Delhi 6’ performed on weekdays? Did it fall heavily? Monday was part holiday, yet the film fell at several plexes where it was holding fort. At most single screens, well, if the opening weekend numbers ranged between 15% - 25% across the country, you can easily guess the kind of business it would do on weekdays. There has been a sharp decline from Monday/Tuesday onwards.
The verdict is loud and clear: ‘Delhi 6’ has under-performed in India.
What does it mean for UTV? ‘Delhi 6’ is an expensive proposition and in view of the fact that the business is seeing a downward pattern, the distributors should end up losing money. Of course, it's a bit too early to gauge the quantum of loss, but seeing the low tide, it's evident that the distributors would find it difficult to recover its costs.
Sometimes, it's not the film, but the price that fails. In this case, the film as also its price has failed.
What does it mean for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra? There's no denying that Rakeysh is a fantastic technician, who knows the craft well. But he has been letdown by the screenplay this time. Also, every film-maker needs to study the viability of the actor before he spends an 'x' amount on a project. Rakeysh should also take a note of it.
What does it mean for Abhishek Bachchan? ‘Drona’ [solo Abhishek starrer] was an unmitigated disaster, ‘Dostana’ was an average success [although there are reports that the distributors haven't recovered the huge price they paid for its rights] and now ‘Delhi 6’, again a solo hero film, has under-performed in India. His ratings are sure to go down after ‘Delhi 6’.
Abhishek set a new world record for maximum public appearances in 12 hours while promoting the film. But the trade would've only jumped with joy if his movies set records at the box-office.
