Thaindian News

By Joginder Tuteja

Both Hindi releases that arrived over the weekend gone by, Kal Kissne Dekha and Zor Lagaa Ke Haiya, have failed at the box office. While former was a much publicized and promoted launch vehicle of Jackky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai, the latter was just not promoted at all in spite of the presence of Mithun Chakravorty.

However, audiences didn’t care about either of the two films and though it was expected that KAL KISSNE DEKHA may still attract a sizeable chunk of audience and grow with word of mouth as the shows progressed, that was not the case to be. The film opened poorly and terrible reviews didn’t help it’s cause either. The word of mouth was near to non-existent since there were hardly many people who were enthused enough to watch this Vivek Sharma directed film. Result? The film remained on the lower side over the entire weekend and hasn’t shown any signs of revival even as the week days progressed.

This is a big setback for Vashu Bhagnani and Co. since for a film that has been made in the range of 30 crores, an approximate 5 crore opening weekend is certainly not a happy sign. For Jackky, it would have to be a journey from the starting point though he can take solace from the fact that critics haven’t come down heavily on him and have shown confidence in his acting abilities. As for film maker Vivek Sharma, he hasn’t helped his cause by declaring war against the film and it’s producers and also making not so charitable remarks about everything associated with KAL KISSNE DEKHA.

On the other hand ZOR LAGAA KE HAIYA was a looser from the first show itself. Opening to near empty theaters, it is now yet another film made for kids that has not managed to strike a chord either with the younger or older generation.

The film was flawed at the concept level itself when it came to presenting something on the big screen. The idea around an entire film centred on saving a tree was never exciting to begin with. Ok, so if a film maker is trying to make a short film for festivals or a documentary then it may still be commissioned. But one has to give it to the producers (Kartikeya Talreja, Basant Talreja) for actually giving their green signal for a 100 minutes long feature film to be made on this topic.

Where exactly is the audience for such a subject? And how could even that select bunch of audience be enticed enough to walk into a theatre for a movie that doesn’t really boast of any star value whatsoever?
Result? The film is an absolute non-starter and it would be a miracle if all it’s prints manage to stay in theaters for an entire week’s run.

With both KAL KISSNE DEKHA and ZOR LAGAA KE HAIYA adding to the long list of Bollywood flops on 2009, one looks forward to what newer releases like PAYING GUESTS, LET’S DANCE and HUM PHIR MILEINGE have to offer in the coming weekend. -Sampurn Media