Jan 21, 2011

Yamla Pagla Deewana collecting 23 crores over just the weekend

'Yamla Pagla Deewana' (YPD) released last Friday and what transpired at the box office was truly a pleasant surprise with the film taking a very good start by collecting as much as 23 crores over just the weekend. The success of 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' does lead to mixed sentiments though.
On one side the terrific response to the film by means of one of the best weekends ever in the history of Hindi cinema has made everyone stand up and notice the (still existing) might of the Deol family. On the other hand one just wonders that how huge the film could eventually have been had it performed well across the length and the breadth of the country. Reason being that while in North of India, especially single screens, the film is phenomenal, in Mumbai (the biggest territory) and South, 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' is barely average.
With no commercial 'masala' release till 'Patiala House' arrives in February, there is a huge space available for 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' to start making an impression in these territories as well. However, while that happens, 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' is all set to cross the 50 crores milestone in an overall run and emerge as a clean hit.
The same cannot be said though about 'Turning 30' which just couldn't take off. This Gul Panag starrer didn't quite boast of an 'on your face' promotion and though the lead actress here did try to bring in as much visibility as could have been possible at her end, the film as a whole didn't quite stand out.
The film was largely ignored by masses as well as classes which means there was no redemption round the corner. While mass audience preferred 'Yamla Pagla Deewana', for the classes it was 'No One Killed Jessica' which was the first choice. One still expected that in places like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Pune, the film would find some decent footfalls in 30%-40% range but sadly that wasn't the case to be. Even critically, the film didn't quite find much appreciation. Result? A film that would now mainly find an audience on the DVD circuits.
Source: indiaglitz