The hits and misses of the week.
Manmarziyaan saw a weak opening, improving slightly over the weekend. It won't help much and keep the film below average.
Love Sonia and Mitron fared poorly at the box office.
Vinod Mirani gives us his weekly verdict.
Manmarziyaan
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Vicky Kaushal, Taapsee Pannu.
Director: Anurag Kashyap.
What works: Good performances, well-directed.
What doesn't: An story idea.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Below average.
Love Sonia
Cast: Mrunal Thakur, Freida Pinto, Demi Moore, Mark Duplass, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Richa Chadda, Riya Sisodiya, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Sai Tamhankar, Sunny Pawar.
Director: Tabrez Noorani.
What works: Brilliantly acted; beautifully directed; unflinching portrayal of a dark reality.
What doesn't: Lags toward the end.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Mitron
Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Kritika Kamra, Pratik Gandhi.
Director: Nitin Kakkar.
What works: Kritika Kamra.
What doesn't: Jackky Bhagnani.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor opening.
Laila Majnu
Cast: Avinash Tiwary, Tripti Dimri.
Director: Sajid Ali.
What works: Good music, breathtaking Kashmir.
What doesn't: The story is as old as the hills.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Gali Guleiyan
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Om Singh, Neeraj Kabi, Shahana Goswami.
Director: Dipesh Jain.
What works: Dipesh Jain's virtuosic control over film craft, his unique artistic sensibility, the performances he extracts.
What doesn't: Jain's worldview is rather cold, the basic message seems fashionable than perceptive.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Paltan
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Gurmeet Choudhary, Siddhant Kapoor, Rohit Roy, Harshvardhan Rane, Esha Gupta, Sonal Chauhan.
Director: J P Dutta.
What works: Tough!
What doesn't: J P Dutta's clownish treatment of history and hard-earned triumph, poorly shot combat scenes.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Stree
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee.
Director: Amar Kaushik.
What works: Abhishek Banerjee is good; some jokes hit the mark.
What doesn't: Most lines sound too self-aware; the messages seem force-fitted; lack of chemistry between actors.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Big Hit.
Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se
Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kriti Kharbanda.
Director: Navaniat Singh.
What works: A few funny moments.
What doesn't: Predictable story.
Number of weeks: 2.
Box Office verdict: Fails.
Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Diana Penty, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ali Fazal, Jassi Gill.
Director: Mudassar Aziz.
What works: The scenes with Jimmy Shergill and Piyush Mishra.
What doesn't: The jokes fall flat.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
Genius
Cast: Utkarsh Sharma, Ishitha Chauhan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ayesha Jhulka, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, KK Raina.
Director: Anil Sharma.
What works: Mithun Chakraborty and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
What doesn't: The whole film.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Flop.
