Trade Espresso: Of decent proposals

Debutante Sanjay Khanduri’s Ek Chalis ki Last Local, with Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia, may well turn out a dark horse, writes Vajir Singh.

If the trade industry is be believed, debutante Sanjay Khanduri’s Ek Chalis ki Last Local, with Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia, may well turn out a dark horse. Due to mid-rim cast and a thanda title, the film couldn’t take a decent start. The collections ranged between 30 to 40 per cent on the opening day.

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Favourable response
However, the verdict by the trade as well as the audience is unanimous — it’s an unusual, funny thriller. Since it has been felt that the film is a bit lengthy, a few cuts are expected after the weekend. The collection too is expected to rise and the film is expected to do good business in multiplexes and cities, especially in Mumbai and Delhi.

The second release of theweek, Anurag Singh’s Raqeeb,met with a disastrous opening. The first day’s collections was a mere 20 to30 per cent despite the fact that it was produced by top masala man Raj Kanwar. The presence of Rahul Khanna, Sharman Joshi, Jimmy Sheirgill and Tanushree Datta didn’t help. Tradewallas believe that the steamy scenes of Tanushree

Datta may help to titillate the frontbenchers. It could do marginally well in small centres. That’s it.

Below expectations
The verdict for both the release of last week, Anurag Basu’s Life In a Metro and Ashwini Chowdhary’s Good Boy Bad Boy, is out. In its first week, Metro managed to draw good collections in Mumbai. But the collections are expected to go down..making it an average runner in the city. In othe cities, the collections are between average and below average.

The second release, Good Boy Bad Boy, is a flop.

Meanwhile, Ta Ra RumPum, in its third week, is doing steady business in Mumbai and few other cities. Two biggies—RBalki’s Cheeni Kum and Apoorva Lakhia’s Shootout at Lokhandwala, are coming up this Friday.

Tradewallas expect these films – in different in genres – to openwell. If Cheeni Kum is expected to do well with the multiplex audiences, the action genre of Shootout at Lokhandwala could woo the single screen audiences.