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CCCC hides its figures in the US

Last weekend, Eros Entertainment, one of the largest Bollywood film distribution companies in America, did something it has not done for the past couple of years.

Eros released one of the most talked about Bollywood films in recent months -- directors Abbas and Mustan's latest venture Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (CCCC), but they failed to report the opening weekend's box office to Daily Variety -- a bible for the Hollywood film industry.

The official explanation given by a Eros spokesperson is that CCCC has become too controversial and is at the center of a large legal battle that is currently being played out in a Mumbai court. The spokesperson said that the film "has done good," without giving any estimate of its box office gross.

Every Tuesday morning, the Daily Variety reports the weekend box office figures for the top 60 movies in the US. For the past two years this report has also included gross for Bollywood films showing in North America.

Like American distributors, desi distributors too submit the figures on a voluntary basis. But some desi distributors haven't come forward with the grosses when a movie has bombed badly -- for instance, the heavily promoted Takshak.

But Eros has been especially open in reporting the figures. Just as they reported the gross for Taal -- which broke the North American box office record for Bollywood movies by earning $600,000 in its opening weekend -- Eros also listed its flops.

It reported, for instance, the box-office for the Akshay Kumar film Khiladi 420 which made $15,000 in the first weekend -- a huge and an embarrassing flop. CCCC staring Salman Khan, Rani Mukherji and Preity Zinta was released on March 9 on 34 screens -- a decent opening for a film of its genre.

The movie arrived in America with plenty of curiosity factor as well as negative publicity, since the arrest of its producer Nazim Rizvi and financier Bharat Shah. Police and government prosecutors in Mumbai maintain that Rizvi and Shah have links to an underworld crime lord who operates out of Karachi, and has reportedly been financing Bollywood films.

There was a lot of expectations from Bollywood films fans in North America, as well as theaters owners. Bollywood films released in the past several months (with the exception of a specialized film like Zubeida) have largely failed at the box office. With lack of new and exciting film product, theaters owners in North America have been replaying the top hit films of 2000 ( Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai, Fiza, Mohabbatein and Mission Kashmir) -- often at discounted ticket prices.

Despite Eros not releasing the box-office grosses, other sources indicate the movie is a moderate success. CCCC did have a strong opening at North Bergen, New Jersey's Cineplaza multiplex theater (formerly known as Regal Cinema).

The theater's owner, Gautam Shah, said the night shows on Friday March 9 and Saturday March 10 were all sold out. Shah added that approximately 2,500 people saw CCCC during the weekend at his theater.

In August 1999, Shah broke a record by playing Taal on all the 13 screens. Some 6,000 people saw Taal in its opening weekend. Shah also released CCCC at three other locations -- Regal Cinemas in North Brunswick, NJ, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. He said it played well at all the three locations.

But in Fremont, California, Shiraz Jivani was not altogether thrilled with CCCC's performance at his Naz 8 multiplex theater. Overall, he said the film did not do as well as Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, the 2000 film that also starred the Khan, Mukherji and Zinta team. The film's print arrived late on Friday, Jivani said, which delayed the opening day screenings, and there was some further confusion on Saturday.

By Sunday, pirated DVDs and videos of the film were out which destroyed any chance of the box-office picking up on Sunday and the rest of the week. Jivani said he had a lot more expectations from Eros' next release -- director Piyush Dinker Pandya's American Desi. , as audiences have responded positively to the film's trailer.

In addition, he added, American Desi is an American production -- the film's prints (negatives and positive) are located here in the US. And so it would be harder to make and distribute pirated DVDs and videos of the film. American Desi will be released on March 16 on 40 screens across North America.

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