Box Office: Hasee Toh Phasee Wins Hearts; Heartless Fails To Retain The Thrill

When love is in the air and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, Bollywood is bound to come up with a romantic comedy. But when ad film-maker Vinil Mathew’s directorial debut Hasee Toh Phasee hit the screen a week before V-Day (February 7), it turned out to be a better love feast than the run-of-the-mill romances. Much of the credit goes to the lead duo – Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra – and the director, of course, who tweaked all the usual Bollywood masala into an earthy and sharp reality without stripping the flick of its dream elements. And going by the box office numbers, we dare say that the audience loves those experiments garbed in the feel-good raiment. In other words, this Parineeti-Sidharth starrer has different offerings at different levels – whether you take it as an arty-commercial experiment or just another love story, with some nuances that can push you out of your comfort zone.

So how has the film fared at the box office so far? The Rs 25 crore rom-com, jointly produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Anurag Kashyap’s Phantom Productions, hit about 2,000 screens across the country and grossed around Rs 17-18 crore at home during the first weekend, according to industry estimates. Overseas collections stood at a little over $1 million. The occupancy rate was 50-80% during the opening weekend and stayed at 50% on the crucial Day 4 (February 10) in the domestic market, bringing in around Rs 6 crore. Overseas collection on the 4th day was around Rs 1.5 crore. However, the movie is expected to do much better at the box office during the V-Day week.

Karan Johar is also happy with the way things are going. “Thank you for the immense love and appreciation for Hasee Toh Phasee, a film I am extremely proud of,” he tweeted on Sunday.

The rom-com is expected to ride on critical acclaim and we feel that is justified to some extent. For one, director Vinil Mathew (best known for his Cadbury: Kuch meetha ho jaye commercials) knows how to tell a good story, blending reality with cinematic magic. And writer Harshvardhan Kulkarni has aptly supported him. The film is essentially a quirky love story between Meeta (Parineeti) and Nikhil (Sidharth) – a modern-day take about life, love and relationships. Consequently, you see a runaway professional and a turbulent soul in Meeta, who has brains but takes drugs, steals money from her family and tries to whisk off her sister Karishma’s (Adah Sharma) fiancé who is also a long-time friend of Meeta. Sidharth, on the other hand, is a more staid character with his commitments firmly in place. The resulting story weaves the chemistry between the odd pair while Manoj Joshi does some good work as Meeta and Karishma’s father.

But one still wonders why all the soul-searching and putting life into order need to happen immediately before a crucial marriage, à la Mere Brother Ki Dulhan? Only this time, we have a runaway bridegroom, instead of the bride walking away from the mandap as is the Bollywood wont. But Parineeti is the real star cast here – bright, gorgeous, self-willed and passionate – and wins hearts in spite of her over-the-top acting. Sidharth, too, is out on a self-quest and looks laudable. But it’s the cliché plot that mars the good efforts. There are nice elements, but they come in bits and pieces, and finally, Hasee Toh Phasee remains a commercial candyfloss.

One just wonders what would have happened if Parineeti and Sidharth went through the same experiences post the marriage between Adah and Sidharth. But that might have been too much off the track for Bollywood and the Indian audience who did not receive the offbeat theme of Nishabd well. Let us see if Hasee Toh Phasee can join the 100 crore club.

Heartless: Commendable efforts lose steam, again
Medical thrillers are pretty rare in Bollywood and we pinned our hopes on Shekhar Suman’s directorial debut Heartless, starring his son Adhyayan, along with Deepti Naval, Om Puri and newcomer Ariana Ayam (she hails from New York). The movie also released on February 7 and hit about 800 screens all over the country. But unlike Hasee Toh Phasee, this one had a poor start in spite of a great storyline – essentially borrowed from the American crime/supernatural/conspiracy thriller Awake. Surprisingly, the box office numbers are not officially available yet but according to one estimate, Heartless has grossed a little over Rs 1 crore in the opening weekend. That is, indeed, shocking.

A close look at the movie, however, confirms our fear that it could be a box office flop. Rich boy Aditya Singh (Adhyayan Suman), who needs a heart transplant, falls in love with fortune-hunter Ria (Ariana Ayam) and secretly marries her before the surgery. But once he is under the knife, all hell breaks loose. There is conspiracy going on to kill him with a poisoned transplant, so that the wife can pocket the insurance money. Adhyayan’s friend and surgeon Dr Sameer Saxena (Shekhar Suman) is also in cahoots.

During the surgery, the truth dawns upon the hero as he goes into anaesthesia awareness, a medical condition where the patient is conscious enough to understand everything, but cannot move. Finally, his mother Gayatri Singh (Deepti Naval) commits suicide to make the transplant happen; Om Puri, as Dr Sanjay Trehan, manages to save him and all the baddies are arrested at the end. There’s nothing wrong with the story except for the fact that medical thrill becomes hilarious comedy during the second half and Adhyayan still looks pretty stiff although the mother-son relation has been played out well. Maybe the BO numbers will pick up as soon as the audience gets used to the comical activities that take place in the OT. But can it still be touted as Adhyayan’s comeback movie?

Babloo Happy Hai, Ya Rab fail to make the cut
The other two releases of the week also failed to make the cut at the box office in spite of some serious themes. Directed by Nila Madhab Panda (of Jalpari and I am Kalam fame), Babloo Happy Hai has a meaningful message about AIDS and how people can still live a full life. But the movie has a limited release and hit only about 350-plus screens. It has grossed a little over Rs 15 lakh on the opening day, according to TalkingMoviez.com.

Hasnain Hyderabadwala-directed Ya Rab depicts the eternal conflict between humanity and parochial attitude, and how religious fundamentalism can lead to terrorism. But once again, lack of promotion has failed to create buzz for this movie, co-produced by Mahesh Bhatt. Made on a budget of Rs 2.5 crore, the movie has been released in 300-plus theatres and the Friday collections stood in the range of Rs 20 lakh-plus. Overall, Bollywood box office hasn’t witnessed too many ripples even now but movie-goers are having a gala time, sampling different genres. That’s definitely a big plus and we are waiting for more.

Images: Indiatimes