Box Office: Darr @ The Mall, Dee Saturday Night Disappoint; Nishtha Jain’s Gulabi Gang Is Must-watch

The latest horror flick from the Bollywood stable has all the right credentials, but lacks just one thing. In spite of being loaded with scary clichés, it fails to scare the daylights out of you as Ragini MMS did two years ago. After all, Jimmy Shergill-starrer Darr @ the Mall has been made by Ragini MMS director Pavan Kripalani (the 2011 movie was his directorial debut) and expectations were high on that score. Moreover, a sequel of Ragini MMS (directed by Bhushan Patel this time) will be hitting the theatres next month and we were wondering if the ‘mall horror’ can give it a run for its money. But going by the box office response, Darr @ the Mall has plenty to worry about and offers very little to scare competitions.

Released on February 21, along with Randeep Hooda-Alia Bhatt starrer Highway, Bollywood drama Dee Saturday Night and a documentary called Gulabi Gang (not to be confused with the Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla-starrer, to be released soon), Darr @ the Mall has its task cut out. But the horror-thriller, which tells the story of a mall that unleashes its evil side on the people trapped in it, has been a box office bomb from the start. Although it has hit more than 1,100 screens, the occupancy rate was really low – around 20% in the first three days and just 15% on the crucial Day 4. According to Box office India, the horror-thriller has netted around Rs 3-3.25 crore in the domestic market after the opening weekend. Day 4 (Monday, February 24) collections were a dismal Rs 25 lakh, as per some insiders, and that sets the tone for the rest of the week.

The story is a kind of hotchpotch and that might have been its undoing. Here, we have three distinct fragments that should form the thrilling whole but these are not tightly interwoven and seem to be falling apart at times. First, we have Manchanda, the mall owner, and his board of directors spending the night at the haunted mall (as part of a publicity stunt) before the gala opening; next, we find his daughter Ahana (Nushrat Bharucha) and her junky friends partying inside; and finally, there is Jimmy Shergill or the 24-year-old Vishnu Sharma, the chief of security at the mall, who flashes around his flashlight to track the evil spirits. The pieces of the puzzle lie in unravelling the past that comes alive in the spine-chilling night. But if you ask us, the fear factors are pretty predictable and won’t get you too many goosebumps.

Dee Saturday Night: Repetitive without the grace
The other release of the week is directed by Jay Prakash and features the story of Mumbai gone bad as the city’s Richie Riches fervently indulge in drug, sex and crime (in case you can’t guess, Dee stands for Dirty English Entertainment, the culture of rich Mumbaikars). Well, if the theme reminds you of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Page 3, let’s tell you about the eye candies and moral candies thrown in generous measures to keep you engaged.

To cut a long story short, here you will find too many skimpily clad women engaged in all things immoral while a determined ACP Dhoble (Arif Zakaria) raids the vicious rave parties, catches the miscreants and subjects them to inspiring lectures and moral lessons. Then there is the quintessential small town girl (Mahi Khanduri) who is trying to hold on to her traditional values. The movie promotes good causes and teaches you some sound principles at the cost of the art called cinema. And the outcome? It’s a complete washout at the box office, not even touching Rs 10 lakh, as per Box office India.

Gulabi Gang (documentary)
This one has negligible box office collections but the award-winning docu film, co-written and directed by Nishtha Jain, is based on the real-life Gulabi Gang of Bundelkhand (Uttar Pradesh). The group of lathi-wielding women vigilantes and activists was set up by Sampat Pal Devi in a bid to fight against domestic abuse and violence against women. Unlike other drab documentaries, Jain has managed to create an insightful human document that pits personal practice against ideology and exposes the shortcoming inherent in us.

Mohar Basu of KoiMoi sums it up beautifully when she writes: Jain carries me with her daunting journey that I will hold on to for many years probably. The instances were revolting, the tall talks about women’s morality a sham and despite the distressing situations, Gulabi Gang is a ray of hope, brimming with optimism to change the stringent attitudes with galvanising ferociousness.

It could be the journey Highway has missed – a journey of revelation, realisation and an ecstatic upliftment of your inner self.

Images: Indiatimes & Wikipedia