Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade News Network

NEW YORK has completed a week at the box office and has seen good commercial and critical success coming its way. However, the man who is smiling most is none other than Yash Chopra who is ecstatic that his production house has come out with such a quality product. ''It's a double celebration for me with the film being a great money spinner. That's because first and foremost, Yash-ji had loved the film and he told me how he felt about NEW YORK even before its release. He told me that regardless of the way film performs at the box office, he would always be proud that Yash Raj Films backed something like NEW YORK. Something like this had never been told but Yash Raj Films went all out in spending money in the project and making it commercially viable while still keeping the message intact'', says Kabir Khan, the second time director who had made quite an impression with his debut flick KABUL EXPRESS as well.

For Kabir, when it comes to message then movies like RANG DE BASANTI, CHAK DE INDIA and LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI find themselves in the forefront. ''But then these were still relatively safer films. With Aamir, Shah Rukh and Sanjay, you know that the films would find an opening. They are huge stars. We too had John, Katrina and Neil, who are stars in their own right, but not as huge as the ones I just mentioned'', Kabir adds, ''This is why even I was completely zapped when NEW YORK took such an impressive box office opening.''