When putting a project together, most producers look at casting at least one or two "bankable" stars in order to ensure that their film gets a decent opening if nothing else. It is the same logic that forces many producers to refrain from casting newcomers in their films as they feel they will have a much tougher time finding distributors for their film and being able to negotiate show timings with exhibitors. In fact, a film with newcomers is at times difficult to market, as most media partners look to leverage stars rather than the creative content of the film they are associating with. However, the release and phenomenal success of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, has shattered this theory and must have left many scratching their heads. Considering that a week earlier, a film starring Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan and Ameesha Patel managed only a damp squid at the box office, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, a film which rested on newcomers (in fact even renowned writer Abbas Tyrewala made his debut as a director) has stolen the show at the box office. So much so that after a long time are we seeing people turned away from the box office counter due to unavailability of tickets, even at multiplexes where the film is running several shows a day.

In contrast, Love Story 2050 which stars Priyanka Chopra, one of the industry's top heroines, second to maybe only Kareena Kapoor, hasn't comparatively faired even half as well as Jaane Tu. To its credit, it is not as big a disaster as being proclaimed by many industry insiders but it is taking a lot of flak probably because the expectations from the film were immense. Comparisons between both debutant actors, Harman Baweja and Imran Khan were inevitable since their films were releasing on the same day, but what most neglected was the fact that Love Story 2050 was made on a budget of 50 crores plus while Jaane Tu probably on a budget of 8 to 9 crores. So in this case, the film with no stars, made on a lesser budget, has scored over the rest.

Jaane Tu is not path breaking cinema, but it is a refreshingly enjoyable film with fresh, honest performances. Agreed, maybe the film would not be as big a success had it not been produced by Aamir Khan Productions and had Aamir not been a part of the marketing and making appearances himself but then Aamir is not in the film and the fact remains that Jaane Tu has scored on its content, because audiences have enjoyed the film, else after the initial hype had died down, the box office collections would have followed, but that isn't the case since collections have consistently been increasing since Friday.. Even Love Story 2050 pulled out all the stops in their marketing of the film and yet they mustered only a 25% opening against an 85% opening by Jaane Tu.

The lesson to be learnt? Stars are not the ones who dictate the box office of a film, it is the content, casting as per the role's requirements with a bit of smart marketing which does not deviate from the core positioning of the film thrown in. If you don't believe us, Jaane Tu is the perfect case study and will probably remain so for time to come.