Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network

With things back on course as far as the new releases are concerned, the coming Friday will witness the release of Subhash Ghai's Shreyas Talpade and Celina Jaitley starrer PAYING GUESTS, Gayatri Patel's LET'S DANCE and the Mukesh Tiwari starrer RAFTAAR - AN OBSESSION. Given the successful past track record of Ghai-Shreyas ventures, PAYING GUESTS is expected to be the front runner, while LET'S DANCE and RAFTAAR are expected to lag far behind.

Checking out last Friday's releases and in particular the Jackky-Vaishali starrer, KAL KISSNE DEKHA, the first major release after the multiplexes versus producers-distributors nine week face-off, there is still nothing to cheer for the industry. The Vashu Bhagnani venture released at around 70 cinemas of Bombay-Thane (thru Big Pictures), was off to a weak start. By and large the opening was shockingly poor almost everywhere. Though KAL KISSNE DEKHA did show a pick up on Saturday and Sunday, the weekend netted an ordinary 4.50 crores (approx.). Given the high cost of production (around 30 crores) as well as marketing, KAL KISSNE DEKHA is expected to be a loser for all concerned, especially in view of the falling Monday collections. In the Overseas too KAL KISSNE DEKHA has grossed an ordinary and#163;8,546 from UK and poor $13,861 from the US, during the first weekend.

Giving company to the Jackky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai launch vehicle was Gemini Motion Pictures' ZOR LAGA KE... HAIYA! and Deeproots Entertainment and Movies Pvt. Ltd.'s KITKIT + CRICKET = KIRKIT. Given the poor start and the subsequent business of the mentioned movies, it's curtains for both ZOR LAGA KE... HAIYA! and KITKIT + CRICKET = KIRKIT.

The June 5 release, ABC Picture Pvt. Ltd.'s Sohail Khan, Yash Tonk and Vrajesh Hirjee starrer TEAM-THE FORCE flattered to deceive after a dull start as a slight pick up was noticed in the action belt. The film collected 16 lakhs from Bombay, 10 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.15 lakhs from Himmatnagar, 1.75 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.10 lakhs from Jamnagar, 14 lakhs from Delhi city, 2.10 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.15 lakhs from Amravati and 5.50 lakhs from Hyderabad. TEAM- THE FORCE ends up netting around 1.25 crores in its first week and is a flop at the box-office.

Meanwhile the second release of the same week, MMR Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s Sanjay Suri starrer, ANUBHAV, was a non starrer from the opening day. The film collected 2.50 lakhs from Bombay and 2.65 lakhs from Delhi city. Netting around 12 lakhs from its opening week in India, ANUBHAV is an unmitigated disaster.

The last release of the same week, Contiloe Picture P. Ltd.'s MARUTI MERA DOST was marketed as children's fare but failed to entice them despite the holidays. The film collected 5 lakhs from Bombay, 3.10 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 3 lakhs from Delhi city and 1.50 lakhs from Nagpur. Netting around 28 lakhs in its first week from India, MARUTI MERA DOST is a trade disaster.

Our last entry of this week is 99, the only success of the multiplexes versus producers-distributors phase. Even in its fourth week the Vinod Khanna, Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan, Boman Irani and Cyrus Broacha starrer continues to get steady collections. In fact more than the opening week numbers of some of the recent releases! The film collected 25 lakhs from Bombay, 8.50 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.50 lakhs from Rajkot, 1.25 lakhs from Pune, 10.25 lakhs from Delhi city, 3 lakhs from Noida, 2 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1.65 lakhs from Kanpur, 4.10 lakhs from Gurgaon, 1.35 lakhs from Faridabad, 1.25 lakhs from Calcutta, 2.35 lakhs from Nagpur, 3.50 lakhs from Hyderabad and 1 lakh from Mangalore. Adding another 1.25 crores, 99, has netted around 12.50 crores in four weeks from India. There is no doubt that 99 produced by Anupam Mittal and Aditya Shastri and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, is an above average fare!