After a week of great
box office action, mainly due to the runaway success of Rajinikanth-starrer
Kochadaiiyaan,
Bollywood is back to a dismal crawl. Last Friday (May 30) saw the release of just two flicks – Hansal Mehta-directed
Citylights and newbie film-maker
Aman Sachdeva’s
Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi (well, this one is produced by
Ekta Kapoor,
Shobha Kapoor and Bejoy Nambiar). Although both are
hatke movies in a way and the former has earned enough critical accolades, none could manage an impressive showing at the
domestic box office and recorded only 5-10% occupancy on debut day.
Citylights, however, did considerably well after collecting just Rs 70 lakh on the opening Friday. The movie hit 500 screens and went on to earn Rs 3.57 crore at home in the first three days, according to
producer figure (trade figure puts it at Rs 3.18 crore). But the crucial first Monday collections dipped again to Rs 60 lakh (approx). However, keeping in mind it is a
low-budget movie and cost around Rs 7 crore including P&A,
Citylights may just avoid losses.
On the other hand,
Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi, a rom-com drama with a
quirky title and an unmistakable
Delhi flavour, has garnered a paltry Rs 1.60 crore over the first weekend, against an estimated budget of Rs 6 crore. In addition, it has landed into further trouble as a resident of
Bhopal has reportedly filed a Public Interest Litigation (
PIL) against
Balaji Motion Pictures, claiming that the film’s title has hurt the sentiments of the Kayastha community.
Kuku Mathur was released across 700 screens but going by its performance, it can be a clean washout at the box office.
But what has gone wrong with
Citylights? For one, the movie gives you a taste of unsavoury reality that is bound to jolt viewers. Inspired by the British film
Metro Manila,
Citylights by
director Hansal Mehta (of
Shahid fame) pieces together the gripping tale of an
uprooted family and their desperate struggle to survive in the ruthless city of Mumbai. The
storyline unveils a touching human document, superbly portrayed by the lead couple –
Rajkummar Rao (
Deepak) and debutante
Patralekha. Even the crime drama blends well with the colourful kaleidoscope – gentle, sombre, harsh and tragic at times. The ending is undoubtedly filmy, but the rest shines with a rare sensitivity that saves
Citylights from being a cliché.
In contrast,
Kuku Mathur is a
light comedy, telling the story of two fast
friends – Kuku Mathur (
Siddharth Gupta) and
Ronnie Gulati (
Ashish Juneja) – and their coming of age. This one is Sachdeva’s debut film and there are the usual hiccups in terms of plot and characters. But the lead duo and
Amit Sial (
Prabhakar Bhaiya, the baddie uncle trying to influence Kuku) have put in some fantastic acting; the humour is quite
subtle at times and the
Delhi backdrop adds some endearing local colours. Kuku’s culinary aspirations bring in a fresh
touch, but a crisper storyline and engaging
screenplay could have improved the film vastly. Overall, an average movie with a few ‘wow’ moments and that partly explains the poor box office response.
But in case you are longing for another
smash hit like
Kochadaiiyaan or even
Heropanti, wait till you get to watch Akshay Kumar-starrer
Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, to be released on June 6. It is a remake of the Tamil hit
Tuppaki and also stars
Sonakshi Sinha. Let us wait and see if ‘Akki’ can break the box office jinx.
Images: Indiatimes
