It is that time of the year – and hasn’t it gone by so fast. We are already halfway through 2011 and it is time to have a review of what you, the Cine Goer, has gone to see. Ladies and Gents, I give you the Mid Year Top 5 Grossing Films of the year so far.
Patiala House
Starring – Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Armaan Kirmani
Director – Nikhil Advani
Producer – Bhushan Kumar, Mukesh Talreja, Krishan Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Zoeb Springwala
Music – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Release Date – February 11, 2011
February saw director Advani and co scriptwriter Anvita Dutt retreading the all too familiar ‘family drama’ formula. After the disaster that was Chandni Chowk to China, Patiala House saw the Kumar-Advani team try to make amends. Shot across London with a release ahead of the World Cricket Tournament, Patiala House earned mixed reviews. Rajeev Masand gave the film 1.5 out of 5 saying the film catered for those who were missing on their old-fashioned melodramatic entertainers and it ‘bored’ him.
Taran Adarsh on the other hand gave the film 4 out 5 saying ‘Patiala House is not one of those atypical mass entertainers that focuses only on providing entertainment, while the story takes a complete backseat. This one, thankfully, has a story to tell. And an interesting one’.
BollySpice reviewer Roshni Mulchandani gave the film a somewhat lacklustre 2.5 out of 5, saying the film ‘loiters between a Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Housefull.’
Now let’s talk numbers. Patiala House grossed 4.14 crore on its opening day in India with collections rising to 15.64 crore in its opening weekend and 23.25 crore at the end of its first week. Several analysts wrote the film off as a flop but the overall business done by the film saw it averaging out. Just goes to show the law of averages does apply – which lands Patiala House at a very comfortable number 5 having made 33,18,00,000, US $650,000 UK £708,077. Not bad for a comeback by a director who was almost written off.
