'Gori Tere Pyaar Mein' Not Yet A Box Office Hit; 'Singh Saab' Moves Up The Scale

All good things must come to an end and the same goes for Bollywood. After a magnificent spell of back-to-back blockbusters in the form
of Chennai Express, Krrish 3 and Ram-Leela (yes, this flick from Sanjay Leela Bhansali is finally looking up and nearing the Rs 100 crore mark but more on that later), two more movies hit the screens on Friday (November 22) – Kareena Kapoor (Bebo) and Imran Khan’s much-hyped rom-com Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and Sunny Deol’s rustic action flick Singh Saab The Great. But after our usual 4-day tally, the numbers are none too impressive.

Let’s take a close look at Gori Tere first, directed by Punit Malhotra. According to a trade website, the total collection after 4 days (Nov 22-25) stands at a paltry Rs 16.5 crore and certainly nowhere near the Big League. In his latest tweet, film critic and analyst Taran Adarsh says: #GTPM is better in UAE, below the mark in USA-Canada & UK, poor in Australia and disaster in NZ. Overseas total: $ 980,000 [Rs 6.12 crore].

If the collection doesn’t pick up soon, Imran could be in trouble. Well, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (Shakun Batra’s directorial debut in 2012), his last movie opposite Bebo, did well at box office and grossed a total of $8.1 million in India and abroad. But the year 2013 hasn’t been exactly great and both his films, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (a political satire) and Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara (a gangster flick) failed to bomb the box office. In contrast, Bebo has done extremely well in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine and Reema Kagti’s suspense thriller Talaash: The Answer Lies Within. Starring Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor, Talaash also entered the Rs 100 crore club and raked in a total of Rs 131.78 crore.

However, the lukewarm response to Gori Tere could be due to the over-used theme. Although Imran sparkles in his romedy (romance-comedy) role as a rich architect and Bebo looks pretty stunning in her desi avatar while she pursues her fiery zeal for social work, the ‘bridging’ between the ‘unlikely’ partners is kind of predictable nowadays. And strangely enough, this flick reminds you of an earlier hit (Jab We Met) where Bebo did it with equal spontaneity and spunk. Gori Tere is sweet and breezy, but the freshness of the Shahid Kapoor-Bebo starrer is somewhat missing here and the sparks are not flying. In perspective, Adarsh has tweeted: #BusinessTalk: #RamLeela dominates, #GTPM dismal, #SSTG decent in mass circuits!

And that brings us to the other movie of the week – Gadar director Anil Sharma’s Singh Saab The Great. Sunny Deol-starrer Singh Saab has moved ahead of Gori Tere and grossed around Rs 21.5 crore after four days. The response has been good in North India, especially in Punjab and Delhi, and single screens have seen good turnouts except in the East and the South.

In this action drama, Sunny plays a collector of a small city in Uttar Pradesh and values his honesty and integrity more than anything else. He fights corruption and injustice to usher in the change that real-life politicos never stop mentioning. Overall, it features a contemporary and relevant theme that can impact the audience. SSTG [limited screens] is best in USA-Canada, but ordinary elsewhere. Overseas total: approx $400,000 [Rs. 2.50 crore], tweeted Adarsh.

Meanwhile, Bhansali’s Ram-Leela is catching up after some initial hiccups. Last week, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court banned the screening of Goliyon ki Raasleela Ram-Leela in Uttar Pradesh. The court has, however, allowed the producer and director to run the film without using ‘Ram-Leela’ and ‘Raasleela’ in the title. In its ruling, the bench said, “We are only concerned with the use of word ‘Ram-Leela’ in the title of the film, which hurts the sentiments of billions of peoples not only in India but all over the world.”

But in spite of the controversies, Ram-Leela continues to dominate and seems to have overtaken Krrish 3 in the global market. According to Adarsh, #Krrish3 affected by #RamLeela wave. Overseas total *after Weekend 4*: approx $8.5 million [Rs 53.07 crore]. Blockbuster!

As of now (after the 26th day), Krrish 3 has grossed a total of Rs 263.20 crore. But the question is – can Ram-Leela overtake Krrish 3 and become the topmost earner? We need to wait and watch – picture abhi baki hai and the box office war is far from over.

Image: Indiatimes