If till last week, someone would have said that a film starring Vivek Oberoi would take the third best opening of the year after Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘My Name Is Khan’ and Salman Khan’s ‘Veer’, he would have been pronto sent to an asylum. Well, that ‘someone’ can now proudly stand up and make that announcement. That’s because believe it or not but Vivek’s ‘Prince’ has taken an opening which is next only to the aforementioned films. A 50% opening would have been a happy sign indeed for this action thriller that boasted of great music but always carried the danger of being ignored or savaged due to the presence of a certain Oberoi. However, Friday threw a different picture altogether with an opening which was much better than 50%, especially at single screen audience – the target audience for the film.

Expectedly, the script wasn’t any great shakes but exciting promos, slick visuals, fast paced narrative, cool action and hot babes coupled with a good act by Vivek meant that audience weren’t heard complaining. Though there hasn’t been a huge soar in collections which could tag the film as hit in a matter of few days, the fact remains that for something which was touted to be a ‘born disaster’ by many, ‘Prince’ has turned out to be a slap on the face.

The film is still on shaky grounds as a huge budget means that continued collections are not just the need of the hour but at least a fortnight. There are tens of crores spent on the film and the makers have to keep their fingers crossed that the film doesn’t crash over the second weekend. However, all said and done, a good start means that this has turned out to be at least a face saving venture for Vivek Oberoi. The film has taken the biggest opening ever of his career and leaving aside the budget factor which could prove to be a spoilsport, Vivek can at least now afford to enjoy a good night sleep for months to come before he revisits anxious moments yet again with ‘Raktacharitra’.

‘Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai’ has turned out to be the biggest box office disappointment of the current year. Period. A good film which definitely deserved audience coming it’s way, this Riteish Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez starrer didn’t even take an opening. It’s as simple as that; the set of audience which wanted to catch a movie this weekend opted for ‘Prince’ and in the process totally ignored ‘Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai’ which opened to an abysmal response. Yes, the film did show a good pick up over the weekend but one suspects whether this would be good enough. A pity because this romcom has quite a few ingredients that make for a decent young entertainer.

The makers can take solace from the fact that the film’s budget is quite reasonable and hence the cost should get recovered from various sources. However, ‘Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai’ was made for theatre audience and it is nothing less than disappointing to see minimal footfalls coming its way.

An insignificant release and an even more insignificant (and inconsequential opening) of ‘The Japanese Wife’ makes one wonder why to make a film like this which has extremely limited audience? Is it only to satisfy the artistic urge in you as a film maker? Regarding those who wish to watch a film from the artistic standpoint, then well, the sad truth is that number of such people is abysmally low. In that case, why not have a direct to DVD release because theatrically (especially with the kind of marketing effort that has gone into the film) ‘The Japanese Wife’ doesn’t come with any scope whatsoever.

- Rudhir Burman / Sampurn Wire