'Om Shanti Om' beats 'Saawariya' at the box office

NEW DELHI: The audience verdict is out. The box office seems to favour Shah Rukh Khan's " Om Shanti Om " in comparison to Sanjay Leela Bhansali's much-touted magnum opus " Saawariya ".

While King Khan's film registered 90 percent occupancy across the country on its Diwali release, Bhansali's love story managed 60 percent.

" Om Shanti Om " is director Farah Khan's tribute to the colourful and vibrant cinemas of the 70s and it has Shah Rukh is a new avatar, going shirtless and displaying his six-pack abs, while Bhansali's film is a mystical love story set in Shimla and introduces new faces.

According to Vishal Kapur, COO of Fun Cinemas, the Shah Rukh film has generated a lot of repeat audience interest in comparison to " Saawariya ".

"Among our 15 cineplexes across the country, the bigger ones did a business of at least Rs.500,000 and smaller ones Rs.150,000 on Friday. ' Saawariya ' churned out Rs.350,000 at the big centres, while at the smaller ones it could only manage to collect Rs.78,000," Kapur told IANS.

Kapur feels that " Om Shanti Om " could prove an even bigger Shah Rukh hit than his last " Chak De! India ".

"It could do better than 'Chak De! ' which picked up after the positive reviews. However, 'Om Shanti Om ' had a great opening. I am a little doubtful about ' Saawariya '," said Kapur.

The audience response can be gauged from Anirban Basu, a movie buff who saw both the films. " 'Om Shanti Om' is much more entertaining than 'Saawariya' . SRK's film has a perfect blend of comedy and drama while Bhansali's film is stale and boring. It is extremely slow. Apart from the lavish sets there is nothing in the film to hold the audiences' interest."

The difference of how well both the films would do in the coming days is also evident from the advance bookings.

"For Saturday, 50 percent of advance booking has been done for 'Om Shanti Om' while for 'Saawariya' it is just a little over 20 percent," said Ashok Bisht, assistant manager of JAM multiplex, Noida.

With both the films in tough competition, the weekend will prove boom time for the multiplexes across the country.

"With two big films releasing the same day, this weekend will prove to be a big money spinner for all multiplexes. However, we have noticed a new trend among some viewers - they want to watch both films," said Gautam Dutt, chief marketing officer of PVR Cinema.

Economic Times

OSO Draws a Historic Box Office Opening Worldwide

Om Shanti Om has opened to an earth shattering 95-100% response smashing records all over.

The film was released on around 600 single screens and set new first day highs on nearly 500 of these 600 screens. The multiplexes saw near 100% collections but the grosses are not as high as last year biggies as it only managed to get 8-10-12 shows as against the 14-16-18 that other biggies have managed. This was due to the clash with Saawariya which took up a similar amount of screens at multiplexes.

The reports are very positive from all parts of the country and the film will become a huge all India hit. The opening day in Delhi/UP, East Punjab, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Mysore was humungous as single screens went over capacity at places. The first week should see may more records being crushed.

In Overseas the film managed to collect around 125,000 pounds on Saturday in UK.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om was the most-watched film on Friday in the entire U.K., if one goes by the screen average of all 150 films [English and non-English] running in the nation.

The film collected £ 114,318 on 52 screens on Friday, with the average working out to
£ 2,198.

Extra-ordinary.

FilmTradeNews

Shah Rukh to inaugurate film festival

New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will inaugurate the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2007, which begins on November 23 in Goa.

“Yes, Shah Rukh Khan has accepted the invitation to inaugurate the ten-day- long festival,” the superstar’s spokesperson Karuna said on Saturday. The event, which will witness the best of cinema from India and abroad, would kick-start with the renowned Romanian film director Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Four Months, Three Weeks and Two days’.

The film has already won the prestigious Golden Palm award at Cannes early this year.

“Shah Rukh is pleased to do the honour on behalf of the film industry,” said Mr. Karuna on behalf of the actor who is presently out of the country.

The Hindu