Akshay crosses new milestone with huge TMK opening

Akshay Kumar would be heaving a sigh of relief. Those who had questioned his superstardom after the poor opening of 'Action Replayy' won't really have much to say after the terrific start that 'Tees Maar Khan' has enjoyed at theaters. Of course ultimately it's the content which will do the talking to decide the kind of distance that this Farah Khan directed film eventually travels. However the fact remains that the weekend belongs to a star and this is where Akshay has delivered.

'Tees Maar Khan' has netted around 40 crores over the weekend, hence turning out to be the biggest opener ever for Akshay Kumar. Before this 'Housefull' had netted around 30 crores over the weekend but with 40 crores coming in, 'Tees Maar Khan' is now next only to 'Dabangg' after crossing '3 Idiots' opening.

While it was 'Tees Maar Khan' wave all over with the entire world talking about it, whether in a positive or a negative tone, the fact remains that in the process of that happening, Ajay Devgn starrer 'Toonpur Ka Superrhero' was totally ignored. This live-animation film didn't find any takers whatsoever with an opening that was merely in 10% range. Clearly, those who wanted to check out a film over the weekend preferred 'Tees Maar Khan' and were in no mood to spend on two films.

As for 'Isi Life Mein', absolutely nothing went in it's favour. Wrong release period, poor show timings, nil hype, an average product in hand, no curiosity amongst the audience and poor reviews meant that 'Isi Life Mein' went totally unnoticed. The only thing that went in favour of this Sooraj Barjatya production was some good promotion (if one goes by the small budget in which the film has been made). However that was never going to be good enough for this film which fetched a disastrous 5%-10% opening for itself. Akshay Oberoi and Sandeepa Dhar, two debutants of 'Isi Life Mein' may benefit though as their act has come for some appreciation. However, the film hasn't quite turned out to be smash debut per se with hardly anyone checking it out.

2010 saw the revival of desi films/characters

Most of the movies that worked at the box-office this year were desi films. They either had characters from small towns or villages or had the rural backdrop. Till the onset of this year, most film-makers were of the opinion that the multiplex junta prefers to watch urban themes, while desi subjects/characters worked with a tiny minority at smaller centres. But the audience proved them wrong yet again.

The year 2010 witnessed a number of desi films striking gold at the box-office. Take the case of DABANGG, the biggest Hit of the year. It had a rural backdrop and its protagonist, Chulbul Pandey, was an uncouth and brash character. But the film worked big time at plexes as well as single screens. Ditto for ISHQIYA, which was set in a village or PEEPLI [LIVE], which, depicted the rural community. UDAAN too was about the father-son relationship in a small town of India, while TERE BIN LADEN threw light on a Laden lookalike. That's not all, even RAAJNEETI, which depicted the games politicians play, was set in India.

DO DOONI CHAAR and BAND BAAJA BAARAAT, though set in Delhi, had characters the desi or the middle class audience could relate to, while PHAS GAYE RE OBAMA had a small town backdrop. This doesn't imply that urban themes didn't find acceptance this year. They did. But the point to be noted is that desi films ruled the year 2010.