Box Office

Kaho Naa... holds on
The distributors have their backs to the wall. Only Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Na... Pyaar Hai has been doing roaring business, improving on its collections wherever it has been released. But the other big films have turned out low performers. Mela was sold for a record Rs 2.5 crore per territory, considering its big banner and director Dharmesh Darshan’s past record. But it suffered a loss of 50 per cent at the box-office everywhere. Shah Rukh Khan-Juhi Chawla’s film Phir Bhi Hindustani which was sold for Rs 2 crore, will also make distributors forfeit half the expected income.

Santosh Singh Jain, veteran president of the Central Cine Circuit Association, warns that unless the prices of films are reduced, distributors will soon have to close shop, owing to the poor business of big films. "The losses run into lakhs. Every distributor is losing. Distributors are on the verge of extinction, because the big films continue to flop. My advise is, the distributors should stop buying films at such prices. Yet some prefer to burn their fingers. After all, it is a question of demand and supply," he pointed out

Boney Kapoor’s Pukar was released last Friday. Its report is mixed. In Maharashtra, it got off to a good start, but not in Delhi, CP and CI. Though it is too early to predict what business it will do throughout the week, one can only hope it will do at least fairly well, since the film has been sold for Rs 2 crore.

Johara Bai

The film collected 31 per cent in its first week in Mumbai

Phir Bhi Dil Hai ...

Its second week collections in Mumbai came to 66 per cent and 33 per cent in Delhi

Kaho Naa... Pyar Hai

The film has done better business in its third week than in the second in most of the stations including Hyderabad. In Mumbai its collections remained steady at 99 per cent in the third week. In Delhi, too, it has held on to its 65 per cent.

The World Is Not Enough

This dubbed film has not done too well at the box-office.

This week

Opening this week is Salim’s Badal, directed by Raj Kanwar. The industry has high hopes on the film, especially since it is an action film with the 1984 riots in Delhi and Punjab as a backdrop. Slickly made, the film does carry good reports.

Jai Shakumbhari Maa is expected to be released in Delhi. Nagin Bani Deewani (dub.) is also due this Friday.

MSM Desai