Box-Office Report: There's No 'Short Kut' to success

Poor comedy and bad humour continued to rain in Bollywood post Kambakkht Ishq with this week's release Short Kut ' The Con is On. This Anil Kapoor produced film starring Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao failed to appeal to audiences for its weak comedy and bad performances. With high expectations, the film received a decent initial of 30-40% but collections went down soon after.Nothing from Amrita's hot look, Arshad's negative role to Akshaye's loud act appealed to the audiences. The scene won't get any better for the film in coming days and the distributors are expected to lose money with the high cost at which they acquired the film.
Pankaj Advani's Sankat City was a great entertainer but the film released with very low publicity and many were unaware of the movie. Add to it the cast gave a feel of some parallel cinema which the masses prefer to stay away from. Post release, even a good word of mouth couldn't help the film much since the multiplexes released it in very few shows.
Anupam Kher ' Sharmila Tagore starrer Morning Walk was a non-starter.
Question: Will Hollywood (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) continue to overpower Bollywood (Jashnn) in the coming week? Leave your comments below...

After recent hits like Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,X Men Origins Wolverine, Terminator Salvation and Fast and the Furious, Hollywood continued to fetch a strong audience in India. This week's release Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen not only enjoyed a brilliant opening but also overpowered all the Hindi releases at the box-office. Most multiplexes were packed to 80-90% capacity with weekend shows even enjoying 100% occupancy.
After a terrific first week opening, Kambakkht Ishq suffered a drastic drop in its collections in its second week, as expected. The unanimous negative review and bad word of mouth worked adversely for the film's business. The film, which its producers had already tagged as a big hit, might not make huge profits considering the mammoth budget at which it was made.
Question: Will Hollywood (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) continue to overpower Bollywood (Jashnn) in the coming week? Leave your comments below...

The coming week sees the release of only one prominent Bollywood film Jashnn from Vishesh Films. Starring Adhyayan Suman, Anjana Sukhani and Shahana Goswami, Jashnn is another low-budget film from the Bhatt banner. Though not too high on hype, the film could have a good start considering it has no big Bollywood opponent and Short Kut and Kambakkht Ishq won't survive till its release.
The Siddharth Koirala ' Gracy Singh starrer Dekh Bhai Dekh which was to release this week has been shifted to next week alongside Jashnn. However, with low promotions, the film might quite possibly go unnoticed.
Hollwyood will continue to overpower Bollywood in the coming week since Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince holds much more curiosity value. Also releasing in IMAX 3D version, the dome screen could see audiences pouring in after a long time.
Question: Will Hollywood (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) continue to overpower Bollywood (Jashnn) in the coming week? Leave your comments below...

Film: Kambakkht Ishq
Position: 1
Director: Sabbir Khan
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor
Upside: Some comic moments
Downside: No storyline, toilet humour, crude dialogues, silly jokes, poor performances, Hollywood stars wasted
Running Week: 2
Trade Comments: After a terrific first week opening, collections dropped in second week as expected. The unanimous negative review and bad word of mouth worked adversely for the film's business. The film might not make big profits considering the mammoth budget at which it was made.
Indiatimes Rating: * (Read Review)

Film: Short Kut ' The Con is On
Position: 2
Director: Neeraj Vora
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao
Upside: Hardly anything
Downside: Humour doesn't work at all, bad performances, shoddy script, Amrita doesn't look hot as promised, Arshad doesn't appeal in negative role, Akshaye is loud
Running Week: 1
Trade Comments: The opening was around 30-40% which went down after the weekend. Like Kambakkht Ishq, the negative reviews and word of mouth for this film affected its business big time. The distributors are expected to lose money with the high cost at which they acquired the film.
Indiatimes Rating: * ' (Read Review)

Film: New York
Position: 3
Director: Kabir Khan
Cast: John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Katrina Kaif
Upside: Social theme, decent performances by Neil and John, interesting first half
Downside: Dragging second half, one-sided story, convenient climax
Running Week: 3
Box-Office Verdict: Hit
Indiatimes Rating: ** ' (Read Review)

Film: Sankat City
Position: 4
Director: Pankaj Advani
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Rimmi Sen, Anupam Kher
Upside: Good comedy, not slapstick, interesting characters, neat performances, fast pace, recurring twists in plot, smart direction
Downside: Chunky Pandey's hamming.
Running Week: 1
Trade Comments: Despitegood reviews and positive word of mouth, this entertainer failed to do big business mainly because it was booked for very few shows at most multiplexes. The exhibitors gave prominence to the other release Short Kut and somewhere Sankat City was overshadowed. Releasing it in the coming week could have been beneficial considering the competition (from Jashnn) wouldn't have been as big.
Indiatimes Rating: *** ' (Read Review)

Film: Morning Walk
Position: 5
Director: Arup Dutta
Cast: Anupam Kher, Sharmila Tagore, Rajat Kapoor, Divya Dutta
Upside: Good performances
Downside: Dull story
Running Week: 1
Trade Comments: Very weak openingfor a cast without star value and film with art appeal.