Boxoffice Clash: Mohenjo Daro Shows Reduced….Rustom Emerges A Winner(But Only In Comparison)
As expected the boxoffice clash of the titans this week has proved lethal for Ashutosh Gowariker’s MohenjoDaro.
Ashutosh who left for the Locarno Film Festival on the day of the film’s release –Mohenjo Daro was the closing film at the Festival—spoke to me and expressed no awareness of the shockingly rude dismissive and derisive reviews for the film back home.
The fact of the matter is, no recent purported epic since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya has been trounced so royally by critics and rejected by audiences.
An executive from a leading boxoffice chain revealed on condition of anonymity that the chain has decided to reduce the number of shows for Mohenjo Daro and replace them with additional shows of this week’s other release Rustom.
Says the source, “We had to screen a certain mumber of shows of Mohenjo Daro due to a contract with UTV. But now with Rustom getting a far better response we have no choice but to knock out some shows of MohenjoDaro and replace them with Rustom.”
Not that Rustom is a clear winner. Trade experts, who do not wish be named until the boxoffice figures are officially released, predict Rustom too will witness a steep drop after the Independence Day weekend .
“It’s a long weekend , and then there is Raksha Bandhan on August 18. So Rustom will grow by default. But holiday or no, Mohenjo Daro has been rejected by the audience,” says the source .
Trade analyst Amod Mehra is dismayed by the competitive edge that destroyed Mohenjo Daro’s chances at theboxoffice. “Our film industry does not learn from earlier mistakes. This clash has once again proved that these clashes are not healthy for the business. As expected Rustom opened to a good start and by the audience reactions is set to be a big hit. On the other hand though the buzz was low for Mohenjo-Daro the trade was shocked by the unimpressive and dull start. As the word of mouth is bad it will struggle and thanks to the string of holidays manage a full weeks run.”
Another trade pundit Atul Mohan is more cautious in his evaluation of the two films’ performance. “The opening was little slow for Mohenjo Daro(MD) and good for Rustom. Rustom had had less theatres for release than MD but occupancy was better. Akshay Kumar’s past couple of successes ensured a good opening forRustom. The aggressive marketing by Zee in the last round also played big role where the marketing of UTVwas little slow in the last round. The opening collection of MD is less than expected and it is to be seen how the heavy investments will be covered.”
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