Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann opened sluggishly whereas Ishqiya proves to be early pace setter at box office in last week's Friday battle

Vishal Bharadwaj produced Ishqiya provided a surprise at the box office with a far better opening than media theme based drama Rann on Friday. Surprising because Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann arrived with decent expectations and a strong ensemble cast led by Amitabh Bachchan and good prerelease reviews. Both films have a mixed audience response, but Ishqiya is expected to perform better in the remaining week and pose a fair total. The first massive release of the year, Veer, is set to underperform as the second week has started on a slow note. Starring Salman Khan and Zarine Khan and directed by Anil Sharma, the period drama rocked single screens but found little encouragement from multiplex audiences. Areas such as Rajasthan and Bihar were super strong but Delhi and Mumbai underperformed tremendously. With a decent first week total in the kitty, the film is saved from being a flop but anything above average performance is unlikely.

Despite stiff competition from Veer, 3 Idiots continued to inject life in multiplexes and break fifth records across India. The Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor starrer is strolling towards a Rs 200 crore net gross in India in dazzling record breaking fashion and unlikely to be repeated in the next couple of years.

With only Striker set for release, a small budgeted crime thriller based on the game carom and starring Siddharth, the present films should continue to occupy theatres for the coming week. Striker arrives with decent promos and will need to rely on word of mouth to boost collections. 

Jay Shah