It was always on the cards that both ‘Ishkq In Paris’ and ‘Hum Hai Raahi CAR Ke’ would have to rely entirely on the word of mouth publicity since it was a given that opening of any sort was going to be a challenge. However, despite limited expectations, one didn’t expect empty houses greeting these films. It was felt that given Preity’s credentials, ‘Ishkq In Paris’ would at least have some footfalls coming it’s way.
Unfortunately, this didn’t quite happen as both films started with practically empty houses from Day One itself. Poor reviews further marred the show and absence of any word of mouth whatsoever (due to negligible footfalls) meant that there was no further respite either. Final nail in the coffin proved to be IPL Finals on Sunday which kept people home for an entire evening. Result? An out and out disastrous response for both the films which would be out from theatres sooner than one would have expected.
With just over 1 crore coming in for ‘Ishkq In Paris’ and even lesser for ‘Hum Hai Raahi CAR Ke’, even the cost of print and publicity won’t be recovered. Another release of the week, Veena Malik’s ‘Zindagi 50-50’, is a complete washout as it didn’t even see a proper release for itself.
The film which ended up gaining good moolah though was Hollywood action affair ‘Fast and Furious 6’. After ‘Iron Man 3’, this is yet another biggie from the West to make inroads into the Indian screens. With over 20 crores being collected over just the weekend, the film is a clean hit already.
Joginder Tuteja tweets @tutejajoginder
