The Battle Of The Boxoffice: Pagglait, Saina , The Silence & 7 Kadam

A  death-defining  rom-com, a sports bio-pic, a murder mystery and  a father-son drama…The  boxoffice this  Fridays revels in diversity.

 Paglaitt and Saina  both feature a female hero as their protagonist.  While  Saniya Malhotra(Dangal,Ludo, Badhaai Ho) plays  a  newly-widowed wife  trapped in a tragedy that she cannot  comprehend or process, in  Saina Parineeti  Chopra,in her  third release within  a month, is absolutely  brilliant  as   bandminton champ  Saina  Nehwal.

 While Saina  opens  in movie theatres  in the midst  of the growing pandemic, Pagglait will  go straight  on Netflix.

However  boxoffice figures willbe comparable, since  the  digital perform has a razorsharp boxoffice barometer attached to  its releases. Netflix would know exactly the number of people   who watch Pagglait  on March  26 when  it  opens. Having seen the film I know the response would be pretty much overwhelming.

 Saina , on the  other hand would have  to battle all odds, not just in  the badminton  court but  in the  movie theatres. Would the  story  of  Saina Nehwal be interesting enough  to  pull audiences back to theatres? It all depends on how  convincing  Parineeti’s  Nehwal act is. It is  nigh impossible  for an actor to play  a living  person convincingly, specially one  who is  in  the limelight. Sushant Singh Rajput pulled it   off   in Dhoni The Untold Story.Parineeti’s gamely act  has to be  measured  in  a  balanced perspective.

The Silence : Can You Hear  It  is Aban  Bharucha  Deohans(eminent cinematographer Kiran  Deohans wife)  ’s directorial debut.  In  January another  female  director Renuka Shahane  made  her favourable  directorial debut  with Tribhanga: Tedhi Medhi Crazy. The Silence is a  murder mystery with National award  winner Manoj Bajpai investigating a gruesome  murder.This one will stream from March 26 on Zee5. No previews as  the  producers  don’t want to  give  away  the mystery. 

Finally   there  is   7 Kadam,from Eros Now  .It’s a feature film that has  weirdly been split into a 4-part series by  the producers. Directed  by Mohit Jha it features the talented duo Ronit Roy  and  Amit Sadh as a father and son battling over games  of  football. May the best man win.