The month has seen many medium scaled movies released, with each of them arousing some public expectation before the release date. Tere Bin Laden hogged the lime lights for the crazy concept, Lamhaa struck a chord with Northern India in particular with its impressive promos and Anurag Kashyap fans were found waiting with bated breaths for the ‘not much publicized’ Udaan. And somewhere between all these was sandwiched the release of another Priyadarshan flick Khatta Meetha with Akshay Kumar in the lead.

July 16th was easily the hottest day at the ticket counters with three Hindi movie releases, namely Lamhaa, Udaan and Tere Bin Laden, along with two English movies – Inception and The Sorcerer's Apprentice. The general expectation as that the indegenious productions would take the cake, but what happened was something entirely different. It was Inception that emerged as the winner of the little battle in terms of the collections.


For some reason or the other, the Hindi movies mentioned above failed to click in entirety and the response gathered was not coherent in any respect. Whereas Lamhaa suffered the fate of preconceptions regarding social issue based movies, Tere Bin Laden badly missed the services of a popular face in its cast. Udaan targeted only a specific audience, and in a way, achieved what it set to do. But on broader scales its collections were only meager as compared to what Kashyap’s Dev D mustered.

Going into some more details, it would be pertinent to mention here that though the monetary loots of the Hindi releases are not much to brag about, this is no implication on the entertainment they provided to the audiences. Whereas Lamhaa made home in the hearts of many due to its superb plot and soulful music, Tere Bin Laden also was like a breath of fresh air for the comedy genre and in view of many, has overshadowed the star backed Khatta Meetha in terms of the content and delivery. It would not be out of place to mention here that Khatta Meetha’s collections have been terribly below par, so much so that the markets of USA and U.K., which have off late endorsed Akshay Kumar starrers diligently, have shown a cold shoulder this time. In fact, the movie has found cut throat competition from the lesser known likes of Mel Karaade Rabba (a Punjabi movie starring Maachis fame Jimmy Shergill). Khatta Meetha’s average screen collections work out around £ 3,400, only whiskers over what Mel Karaade Rabba fared. Consequently, Khatta Meetha has nowhere but the small town audiences to look towards for swinging its dwindling fortunes.


Chronologically speaking, this month was highlighted by the intensely competed second weekend which saw Inception as the surprise winner and the dismal Khatta Meetha shock at the box office. However, the accolades received by the opening shows of Once Upon A Time In Mumbai promise better returns for the days to come.
Here is a listing.

Once Upon A Time In Mumbai – released 30th July
• Warm response in Mahrashtra with plexes reporting 80% occupancy.
• Public praise and publicity expected to enhance the collections.
Khatta Meetha – released 23rd July
• Fell on its face due to lukewarm overseas response and mediocre metro multiplex attendance.
• Seeks solace in the favors of small town audiences who have appreciated Priyadarshan’s movies in the past.
Udaan – released 16th July
• Lost some audience due to the other simultenous release.
• Received a response varying from a low of 15% to a high of 30% occupancy overall.
Lamhaa – released 16th July
• Issue based movie, had lukewarm response initially.
• Fared pretty OK, grossing at an average 35-40% occupancy with weekend collections at Rs 5.50 crore approx.
Tere Bin Laden - released 16th July
• A fresh concept appreciated by the audiences.
• Weekend collections at Rs 3.75 crore approx.