AFTER a bumper opening, Shahrukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan is being cold-shouldered by the audience. Cinema hall owners blame the “non-entertaining content” of the movie.
“There is a huge fall in My Name Is Khan ticket sales. While it was just 30 per cent Wednesday, it is only 20 per cent Thursday. The film is not being appreciated because of the content,” Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas, told IANS. “The entertainment aspect in the movie is zero. Though it has some emotions, there is nothing much to offer,” he added.
A source in PVR cinemas echoed the news. “Our occupancy has fallen from around 90 per cent to 50 per cent Monday onwards because of the content of the movie. We are guessing it will stretch to one week more,” said the source.
A love story set against the backdrop of racial discrimination post-9/11, My Name Is Khan grossed an estimated $18 million at the worldwide box office in its opening weekend.
Directed by Karan Johar, the movie is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star in India, in the US by its sister company Fox Searchlight, and in the rest of the world by parent group company 20th Century Fox International.
“There has been a drastic fall after Monday for My Name Is Khan. There is no entertainment aspect in it and lacks mass appeal. It has repeated the history of Saif Ali Khan starrer Kurbaan,” said Delhi-based distributor Joginder Mahajan.
“From critics’ point of view both have been good movies but the youngsters today want only entertainment which these two could not fulfil,” he added.
Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, however, has a different opinion for the fall in occupancy of the movie. “Footfalls for My Name Is Khan have fallen but the weekend is expected to be good. The occupancy at present is about 30 per cent which is decent enough considering it is a working week and that there are close to 12-14 shows per day across different properties for the movie,” said Raizada. The movie will sustain business and occupancy will be close to 70-80 per cent over the weekend,” he predicted.
(Indo-Asian News Service)
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