Feature: The saga continues- Multiple releases in coming weekend

By Joginder Tuteja

In Bollywood, it is a rare occasion to see more than 2-3 mainstream films releasing on the same weekend. Yes, there have been instances when multiple films have arrived on the same day, but such a situation is far and few and is generally avoided. This is why one could have allowed it all to be an exceptional case when DADDY COOL, TOSS, KISAAN, QUICK GUN MURUGAN, LOVE KHICHDI and YEH MERA INDIA released over the Friday gone by.

It’s a different matter though that none of the films, except for QUICK GUN MURUGAN to an extent, did respectable business at the box office. However, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost!

Believe it or not, but the situation is going to be repeated next week too with the arrival of six more films.

Though one waits to see what would be the fate of each of these releases, the fact is that this could perhaps be for the first time ever that 12 films have arrived in a matter of a fortnight. Just unbelievable. So let’s see which these films are and what is indeed expected out of them.

Five years back a Sunny Deol film was an event. This was the time when he was a top star with his GADAR- EK PREM KATHA making history. Circa 2009 and his FOX is not even making an iota of noise even as it gets ready for release this Friday. Even with Arjun Rampal as his co-star, Sunny hasn’t been able to roar about FOX which is the biggest, though completely non-hyped movie of not just the current season but even the years release, if one looks at the names involved.

A film, which has managed to create some awareness around it is- AAGEY SE RIGHT though, it is being released in line with UTV’s strategy of giving limited though strategic promotion to their smaller films. This Shreyas Talpade, Kay Kay Menon and Mahie Gill starrer is a comedy and has a crazy touch to it. This may perhaps get some audiences though word of mouth though an opening is out of question.

THREE- LOVE, LIES AND BETRAYAL is a Vikram Bhatt presentation but sees a major hit due to lack of big names involved with it. Nothing wrong with that, but the promotion hasn’t been good enough to see some awareness being built around it. A thriller dealing with an extra marital affair, THREE is incidentally released on Thursday, 3rd September, to go with the theme of ‘3′!

Along with these films arrives CHINTU JI, a film starring Rishi Kapoor as a central protagonist. Loosely based on his real life story, CHINTU JI is a comedy, which boasts of an interesting premise. However, the film is suddenly being pushed in theaters with bare minimum promotion, which is quite sad considering the fact that Rishi Kapoor deserved a much better outing for a film revolving around him. Quality of promos are tacky too and it would be surprising if people are even aware about this film when it releases this Friday.

And then there are two more films, MOHAN DAS- A MAN LOST IN HIS OWN NATION and BACHELOR PARTY, which may or may not eventually arrive this weekend. The promos of both these films have been on for quite some time and have a contrasting feel to them. While BACHELOR PARTY looks like an absolute goner- giving nothing, but negative vibes, MOHAN DAS does seem like a sensitive well-made dramatic thriller. Chances of succeeding at the box-office for both these films are again near to nil.

Yet another weekend and it is quite obvious that there won’t be much to cheer about at the box-office.

-Sampurn Media