While it has recovered its investment cost, Priyanka Chopra's '7 Khoon Maaf' fails to meet expectations and seems to be dying a slow death at the box-office.
Expectations from Vishal Bharadwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf were humungous after the dark and offbeat Kaminey that he delivered last time. And perhaps that backfired for the film. Despite Priyanka Chopra's powerful performance, Vivaan Shah's decent debut, an interesting concept and good music working in its favour; the slow pacing, long length, multiple marital episodes and an ambiguous ending went against the film.
7 Khoon Maaf had a slow opening at the box-office and failed to pick up over the weekend. Of course the start of cricket World Cup can be attributed to the slump in business but that is not the only reason. The mixed reviews have also worked against the film.
Made on a budget of Rs 22 crore (15 cr production cost + 7 cr publicity), the first weekend collection came to Rs 15 cr (13 cr India + 2 cr overseas). However for a solo A-grade release with such a widespread release, better business was expected at the box-office. The film has recovered its investment through non-theatrical avenues (Rs 11 crore satellite and music rights + Rs 2 crore home video and other sources), but is certainly rejected in terms of theatrical revenues.
With the Cricket World Cup having started in full swing, big Bollywood movies will take a backseat in the next couple of months. Interestingly this also becomes an ideal period for smaller films to schedule their release since they do not have opposition in the form of big Bollywood releases.
The coming week sees the release of Tanu Weds Manu starring Kangana Ranaut and Madhavan. The other release is a children's film called Satrangee Parachute. So Tanu Weds Manu doesn't have big competition and should be able to sail through on the basis of its merits.