BOX- OFFICE

Saat Rang Ke Sapne opens to lukewarm response
This ABCL film, starring Arvind Swamy, Juhi Chawla and Anupam Kher, opened to a lukewarm response. Trade pundits hope that it might pick up by word-of-mouth publicity. The election fever, they say, has to have cut into the collections. Also there was not much excitement about this Priyadarshan-directed film because not much publicity was done. Also Arvind Swamy, who’s from the South, doesn’t have much of a pull in the Hindi belt.

2001
This so-called suspense-thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy got a decent opening, thanks to good publicity. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Dimple Kapadia, Tabu and newcomer Rajat Bedi, and is expected to do average business.

SAAZISH
The film got a dull opening, in spite of the presence of Mithun Chakraborty, who is considered a safe bet. The presence of the sexy Pooja Batra too hasn’t created much excitement among the audiences.

ZOR
This Sunny Deol-Sushmita Sen-starrer, got a bumper initial, but the collections started dropping from the fourth day onwards. In Mumbai, the first-week collections were reported to be 85 per cent, while in Delhi they were 78 per cent. The film is a costly proposition, and according to the trade, it seems to be proving a loser all over. Director Sangeet Sivan, who makes his debut with the film, hasn’t been able to hold audience interest because of a weak script. Also, the presence of Sunny Deol gives the impression that it is an action film, which it is not. The film concentrates more on dialogue and drama.

KAMA SUTRA
After a stupendous first week, the collections of this Mira Nair film dropped drastically in the second week. In Mumbai, the second-week collections were only 65 per cent. According to the trade the audience were let down since they were expecting some real hot stuff going with the title. In the Hindi belt though, the film is doing above average business. But it’s a safe film and no distributor will lose money.

NEXT WEEK

MILITARY RAAJ
The film, which deals with corruption in political circles, has Mithun Chakraborty, Jaya Prada, Aditya Pancholi, Irfan Kamal, Pratibha Sinha, Siddharth Dhawan and Prem Chopra in its cast. Directed by Sanjay Sharma, it has music by Bappi Lahiri.