REDIFF.COM


August 23, 2005





Box office cold to Bipasha's sizzle
Last week saw two Bollywood releases -- Suneel Darshan's Barsaat and Ram Gopal Varma's production My Wife's Murder.
The first was a family drama featuring two very hot women -- Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra -- and the other was an unusual thriller. Neither could hold the audience's attention.

Meanwhile, Aamir Khan's comeback film Mangal Pandey did good business in Mumbai.

Note: Films are ranked according to their release dates.








Barsaat

Cast: Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Priyanka Chopra.
Director: Suneel Darshan.
Bipasha; well-knit first half.

Bobby; ludicrous second half; too much melodrama.

Number of weeks: New.
BO Verdict: Average opening.
The review







My Wife's Murder

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Boman Irani, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Nandana Sen.
Director: Jijy Philips.
Unusual story; great performances from Anil, Boman; realistic.

Slow at times in the second half; could have been tighter.

Number of weeks: New.
BO Verdict: Dull opening.
The review







Mangal Pandey

Cast: Aamir Khan, Toby Stephens, Rani Mukerji, Amisha Patel.
Director: Ketan Mehta.
Well directed, Aamir is utilised properly.

Historical inaccuracies, inconsistent narrative.

Number of weeks: 1.
BO Verdict: Excellent business in Mumbai.
The review







Yahaan

Cast: Jimmy Shergil, Minissha Lamba.
Director: Shoojit Sircar.
Well shot, tight script.

Too simplistic, predictable climax.

Number of weeks: 2.
BO Verdict: Flop.
The review







7 1/2 Phere

Cast: Juhi Chawla, Irrfan.
Director: Isshaan Trivedi.
Juhi Chawla.

Poor performances, aimless subplots, poor humour.

Number of weeks: 2.
BO Verdict: Flop.
The review







Seher

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Mahima Chaudhry.
Director: Kabir Kaushik.
Arshad Warsi; realistic film.

Done to death plot.

Number of weeks: 2.
BO Verdict: Flop.
The review







Viruddh

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, John Abraham and Anusha Dandekar.
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar.
Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore and a good script pre-interval.

Weak second half.

Number of weeks: 3.
BO Verdict: Flop.
The review







Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya

Cast: Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Katrina Kaif, Sohail Khan.
Director: David Dhawan.
Good slapstick comedy, good music.

Lacks a well-told story.

Number of weeks: 4.
BO Verdict: Hit.
The review







Dus

Cast: Sanjay Duttt, Suniel Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Zayed Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Esha Deol, Dia Mirza.
Director: Anubhav Sinha.
Shilpa Shetty, good action, slick.

Weak story.

Number of weeks: 5.
BO Verdict: Average.
The review







Fareb

Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Manoj Bajpai, Shamita Shetty.
Director: Deepak Tijori.
The Shetty sisters.

Predictable, loose story.

Number of weeks: 6.
BO Verdict: Flop.
The review




Design: Uday Kuckian



Last week's box-office results


Tell us what you think of these ratings