MUMBAI: Period films, whether fantasy or based on real events, don’t work in India. They usually spell disaster at the box office. Rangoon adds to the list of recent disasters like Pankaj Kapur’s Mausam (2011), Kunal Kohli’s Teri MeriKahaani (2012) and Anurag Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet (2015). Just when one thought Kashyap’s indulgence called Bombay Velvet was the ultimate disaster at the box office, Rangoon has come as the bigger one.
The other day, Rangoon director Vishal Bhardwaj stated on a TV show that he had no clue about World War II having been fought on an Indian border and yet he decided to make this film? It was okay to do that if one was making a fantasy but not a period film from a chapter from the history as huge as World War II!
*Rangoon opened on 24 February, a general holiday for Mahashivratri. The holiday could not in any way help the film generate a decent opening response. In fact, it was pathetic opening of five crore.
There was no sign of Saturday adding anything much as the film remained stagnant while the Sunday collections hovering at same levels with nil improvement.
The film ended its first weekend with a tally of Rs 14.5 crore.
The film may not even recover its cost on print and promotion, proving to be a total disaster.
*The Attack On Ghazi, a film on the 1971 war of the Indian Navy drowning the powerful Pakistan Navy submarine, Ghazi, is appreciated but not enough to make its mark on the box office. The film collects Rs 11.4 crore from its Hindi version in its first week. The film may gain some more patronage as the week’s release, Rangoon, is poor.
*Running Shaadi is poor, just managing to cross a crore mark in its first week with a figure of Rs 1.5 crore.
*Irada, despite the presence of Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi in the cast, fails to get footfalls and falls short of one crore mark in its first week raking in just about Rs 90 lakh!
*Jolly LLB seems to be making the most of poor oppositions despite being a mediocre film, especially compared to the first version. The brand equity of the title and Akshay Kumar in the lead have helped the film sustain. The film has added a good Rs 23.8 crore in its second week taking its two week total to Rs 95.9 crore. However, the film still needs to hold its own to emerge as an earning film.
*Raees adds Rs 20 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 130.6 crore.
*Kaabil collects Rs 50 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 92.7 crore.
*Dangal has added another Rs 20 lakh to its total in its ninth week taking its nine week total to Rs 388.1 crore.
