August 24, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): It is turning out to be a good season for Bollywood as week after week, there is some good news trickling in. Depending upon their scale and expense, films are taking adequate openings at the box office and turning out to be profitable ventures. Same has now happened in case of ‘Lafangey Parindey’ as well which, as predicted last week, took a 50% opening and managed to hold on well over the weekend. With close to 10 crores coming in the first week, the film has managed to get into a safe zone right away and should be an earner for all.

Yash Raj Films had gone ahead with a controlled promotion for this Neil Nitin Mukesh and Deepika Padukone starrer though I do strongly feel that if there was some more zing in the promotion, ‘Lafangey Parindey’ could have done even better. In the times when Aamir Khan is promoting even a ‘Peepli Live’ as a commercial entertainer, it is surprising that Aditya Chopra and Co. had a different strategy adopted for ‘Lafangey Parindey’.

Nevertheless, coming to the box office prospects of this Pradeep Sarkar directed film, ‘Lafangey Parindey’ should overall find a below average to average status for itself. Since the film is distributed by Yash Raj Films itself, it is a major advantage in itself. A plus film that does give Neil Nitin Mukesh something to cheer about, it also adds on to the stocks of Deepika Padukone who has seen all around positive response for her spirited performance.

Though not a huge money spinner by any means, ‘Lafangey Parindey’ should find an overall lifetime total in the range of 20-25 crores, hence not just adding another reasonably successful film to the repertoire of Yash Raj Films (after ‘Badmaash Company’) but also bringing some relief to Pradeep Sarkar after an unpardonable ‘Laaga Chunari Mein Daag’.

As for ‘And Once Again’, it was released in (read this carefully) not 8-10 theaters in major cities but only 8-10 shows! Now that pretty much conveys a lot about how this Amol Palekar directed film was perceived before the release of the film. Also, it further re-emphasizes the fact that how marketing and promotion is so important for art house cinema like this. Result? A film that was went totally unnoticed at whichever theatre (or show) it was released, got a royal ignore from even critics and saw a silent death in a matter of couple of hours. A washout.

– Joginder Tuteja / Sampurn Wire