While the demonetisation affected film collections to an extent, the dropping temperatures are also affecting box office, especially in the North India, not to speak of poor quality of films made with no concern for content.

*Befikre did raise some expectations within the exhibitor community as well as the audience. Coming as it does after a prolonged dull period and a lineup of poor films, the combination of Yash Raj Films, Aditya Chopra’s direction after eight year gap and Ranveer Singh’s growing popularity meant value for money, scarce as it may be nowadays.

The film did not quite meet up with the expectations as it met with mixed reactions the first Friday first show onwards. The film lacked a clear concept as the whole length of the titles were attributed to couples kissing, not sparing even the toddlers from the act. The rest turned out to be a misplaced idea of the life of today’s youth; being in Paris can’t be an excuse for going berserk with youth in a relationship.

However, what helps the film is its controlled budget and the release period enjoying both, a solo release status as well as an additional holiday today (Eid E Milad). The film had fair number of footfalls on Friday early shows but showed a declining trend thereafter as the first day figure barley managed to cross double figure of Rs 10 crore. Saturday added over a crore compared to Friday figures while the Sunday sustained well as the film closed its opening weekend with Rs 34.35 crore..

*Kahaani 2, a poor attempt to use the title and the face of Vidya Balan from the successful franchise, Kahaani, backfires as the sequel turns the very character of Vidya topsy-turvy. The rest of the content also lacks coherence.

With an opening weekend of Rs 15.8 crore, the film adds only a little more in the remaining four days to end its first week with a total of Rs 23.8 crore. The film stands to lose at the box office.

*Dear Zindagi will be a losing proposal for its India theatrical distributor. The combined following of the rising star Alia Bhatt and the veteran star Shah Rukh Khan fails to work as the theme of the film as well as the pretentious approach don’t go down well with the audience.

The film adds Rs 14.1 crore in its second week to take its two week total to about Rs 58.3 crore.