Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network

Next Friday will in all probabilities see a very even contest between Ajay Devgan's directorial debut venture, U, ME AUR HUM and Rakesh Roshan's Jaideep Sen directed KRAZZY 4. Though efforts were made to avoid a clash between the two diverse releases, things did not work out. One feels that of the two, the 25 crore Ajay- Kajol starrer, U, Me AUR HUM will have a longer shelf life, as compared to the 18-20 crore Juhi, Arshad, Irrfan, Suresh and Rajpal starrer, KRAZZY 4, though the initial honours will go to the latter. And that due to the item numbers by the superstar and superhero Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan!

Last Friday's three releases progressed as per our predictions. Samar Khan's Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Jaaved Jafferi, Minissha Lamba and Deepak Dobriyal starrer SHAURYA was off to a dull start but picked up during the weekend. With some luck SHAURYA may sail through to safety, thanks to its low budget/selling prices and last but not the least the classy performances combined with the critical appreciation that the film has received from many quarters. On the other hand the Naseeruddin Shah starrer KHUDA KAY LIYE (from Pakistan) had a so-so to below the mark start but picked up noticeably as the weekend progressed. The film is expected to fare better in cities like Bombay, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad. One must add fere that both SHAURYA and KHUDA KAY LIYE have had a limited release, and that along with the two big releases of the coming Friday, will reduce the chances of success further. The last release of the week, BHRAM had poor start and is all set to fail at the ticket window.

Small can be beautiful and the most recent proof of that is Ashwani Dhir's comedy flick, ONE TWO THREE, featuring Sunil Shetty, Tusshar Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel, Esha Deol, Sameera Reddy, Tanisha Mukherjee and Neetu Chandra. During its opening week, ONE TWO THREE surprised by collecting 2.10 crore from Bombay, 60.70 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.10 lakhs from Patan, 1 lakh from Deesa, 1.75 lakhs from Himmatnagar, 10.35 lakhs from Rajkot, 4.05 lakhs from Jamnagar, 4.70 lakhs from Bhavnagar, 1.15 lakhs from Surendranagar, 1.45 lakhs from Bhuj, 2.60 lakhs from Gandhidham, 14.20 lakhs from Pune, 2 lakhs from Solapur , 1.85 lakhs from Sangli, 6.40 lakhs from Nasik, 1.10 crores from Delhi, 9.45 lakhs from Noida, 12.35 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 17.85 lakhs from Lucknow, 5.45 lakhs from Agra, 7.75 lakhs from Meerut, 2.85 lakhs from Moradabad, 3.60 lakhs from Aligarh, 1.45 lakhs from Bareilly, 17.50 lakhs from Gurgaon, 11.50 lakhs from Faridabad, 2.60 lakhs from Panipat, 12.20 lakhs from Nagpur, 1 lakh from Jabalpur, 2.75 lakhs from Amravati, 1.60 lakhs each from Akola and Chandrapur, 2.35 lakhs from Raipur, 1.15 lakh each from Wardha and Sehore, 12.60 lakhs from Indore, 23.60 lakhs from Jaipur, 3.10 lakhs (gross) from Ajmer, 3.60 lakhs from Aurangabad, 4 lakhs from Mangalore and 30.20 lakhs from Hyderabad. The first week saw the 8 crore (approx.) ONE TWO THREE netting an impressive 11 crores from India. The film is already an above average fare and can improve further. The biggest surprise of ONE TWO THREE comes from UK, as the movie is rock steady their during the second weekend. The film has so far grossed $195,626 from the UK and $274,589 from US (upto April 3). Given the low costs, ONE TWO THREE is a success in the Overseas.

Tips Films' Abbas-Mustan's directed RACE fell heavily during the second week. Once again the Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy starrer fared best during the weekend but crashed afterwards. During the week RACE collected 2.30 crores from Bombay, 65 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.55 lakhs from Patan, 1 lakh each from Palanpur and Adipur, 1.30 lakhs from Himmatnagar, 12.70 lakhs from Rajkot, 4.20 lakhs from Jamnagar, 3.60 lakhs from Bhavnagar, 1.10 lakhs from Porbandar, 1.85 lakhs from Gandhidham, 13.20 lakhs from Pune, 3.45 lakhs from Solapur, 1.60 lakhs from Sangli, 4.70 lakhs from Nasik, 1.85 crores from Delhi, 15.60 lakhs from Noida, 14.70 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 22 lakhs from Lucknow, 5.50 lakhs from Agra, 6.20 lakhs from Meerut, 3.75 lakhs from Moradabad, 2 lakhs from Bareilly, 2.40 lakhs from Aligarh, 27.35 lakhs from Gurgaon, 11.20 lakhs from Faridabad, 1.05 lakhs from Panipat, 51.60 lakhs from Calcutta, 2 lakhs from Guwahati, 13.70 lakhs from Nagpur, 2.30 lakhs Jabalpur, 2.80 lakhs from Amravati, 1.60 lakhs from Akola, 1.40 lakhs from Raipur, 1.25 lakhs each from Chandrapur and Sehore, 12.70 lakhs from Indore, 2.60 lakhs from Bhopal, 22.40 lakhs from Jaipur, 2.40 lakhs (gross) from Ajmer, 1.80 lakhs from Bikaner, 1.55 lakhs from Warangal, 4.70 lakhs from Mangalore and 63 lakhs from Hyderabad. During its latest outing, RACE added another 15.40 crores, netting 51 crores in two weeks from India. Given the heavy global procurement price of 63 crores by UTV, at this point of time RACE is an above average at the ticket window. In the Overseas, RACE has achieved a hit status, grossing $1,626,873 from UK and $1,327,606 from the US.

Ashutosh Gowariker's JODHAA AKBAR managed another steady performance. During the week, JODHAA AKBAR collected 16.15 lakhs from Bombay, 4.35 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.25 lakhs from Rajkot, 8.20 lakhs from Delhi, 1.10 lakhs from Noida, 2.40 lakhs from Lucknow, 2.50 lakhs from Meerut, 3.40 lakhs from Moradabad, 1.80 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.25 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.75 lakhs from Indore and 7 lakhs from Hyderabad. Adding another 1.10 crores, JODHAA AKBAR has so far netted 61.35 crores in seven weeks from India. The Hrithik-Aishwarya starrer is a hit plus from India. JODHAA AKBAR is already a blockbuster in the Overseas, grossing $2,003,157 from the UK and an extra ordinary $3,434,629 from the US.