The hits and misses of the week.
Sanjay Dutt's comeback film as a free man was, without mincing words, a bad choice. Bhoomi, an old fashioned revenge saga of a father out to redeem his daughter's honour, did not tug at the box office's heartstrings.
The film about Dawood Ibrahim's late sister, Haseena Parker, did not appeal to the ticket-paying film fans, who clearly didn't want to know about a virtually unknown woman and her crimes.
Newton, starring the talented Rajkammar Rao, captures an honest officer wanting to conduct fair elections in a Naxal-affected area. It saw an indifferent opening but the announcement, later on the same day, that the film was India's entry at the Oscars saw an impressive rise in its tickets sales.
Vinod Mirani gives us his weekly verdict.
Haseena Parkar
Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Siddhanth Kapoor, Ankur Bhatia, Rajesh Tailang.
Director: Apoorva Lakhia.
What works: A gripping first half.
What doesn't: The film loses the plot in the second half.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Newton
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav.
Director: Amit Masurkar.
What works: Great performances by the entire cast, tries to focus the spotlight on uncomfortable realities.
What doesn't: Lack of end-to-end clarity.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Average opening.
Bhoomi
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari.
Director: Omung Kumar
What works: Sanjay Dutt.
What doesn't: Everything else.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Simran
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah.
Director: Hansal Mehta
What works: Kangan in a light-hearted comedy.
What doesn't: The writing and execution falters.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Lucknow Central
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Diana Penty, Ronit Roy, Deepak Dobriyal. Rajesh Sharma, Gippy Grewal, Inaamulhaq.
Director: Ranjit Tiwari
What works: Farhan Akhtar.
What doesn't: Not gripping enough.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Vir Das, Payal Ghosh.
Director: Sanjay Chhel
What works: Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal.
What doesn't: Cringe worthy dialogues.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Poster Boys
Cast: Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Shreyas Talpade, Sonali Kulkarni, Samiksha Bhatnagar.
Director: Shreyas Talpade
What works: The Deols.
What doesn't: The silly humour.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Below average.
Daddy
Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajesh, Rajesh Shringarpure, Nishikant Kamat.
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia.
What works: Good performances.
What doesn't: Loopholes in the script.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Baadshaho
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Ileana D'Cruz, Esha Gupta, Vidyut Jammwal, Sanjay Mishra.
Director: Milan Luthria
What works: Dialogues.
What doesn't: The climax, dull content.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Brijendra Kala, Seema Pahwa
Director: R Prasanna
What works: Great script, good humour, well-made film.
What doesn't: The climax disappoints.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Average.
