The hits and misses of the week.
Last week saw two actresses take centre-stage in the movies but very different kind of films. Unfortunately, both of them -- Raveena Tandon's Maatr and Sonakshi Sinha's Noor -- got poor openings at the box office.
Trade analyst Vinod Mirani gives us the weekly verdict.
Noor
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar, Purab Kohli.
Director: Sunhil Sippy.
What works: Good performances.
What doesn't: Shallow activism, filmsy drama.
Number of weeks: New.
BO verdict: Poor opening.
Maatr
Cast: Raveena Tandon, Alisha Khan, Madhur Mittal.
Director: Ashtar Sayed.
What works: Raveena Tandon.
What doesn't: Glaring loopholes, weak script.
Number of weeks: New.
BO verdict: Poor opening.
Begum Jaan
Cast: Vidya Balan, Ila Arun, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajit Kapoor, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vivek Mushran, Chunky Pandey, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda.
Director: Srijit Mukherji.
What works: Vidya Balan.
What doesn't: Loud, melodramatic and shallow.
Number of weeks: 1.
BO verdict: Flop
Read the reviews here: Sukanya Verma / Sreehari Nair
Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana
Cast: Vivaan Shah, Akshara Haasan, Gurmeet Choudhary.
Director: Manish Harishankar.
What works: Sincere film.
What doesn't: Bad performances, mediocre.
Number of weeks: 2.
BO verdict: Flop.
Mukti Bhawan
Cast: Adil Hussain, Lalit Behl, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Paomi Ghosh.
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani.
What works: Good performances, story, direction.
What doesn't: Drags in parts.
Number of weeks: 2.
BO verdict: Flop.
Naam Shabana
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee, Anupam Kher, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Danny Denzongpa.
Director: Shivam Nair.
What works: Taapsee Pannu.
What doesn't: The background score, predictable.
Number of weeks: 3.
BO verdict: Flop.
Poorna
Cast: Rahul Bose, Aditi Inamdar, S Mariya, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Harsha Vardhan.
Director: Rahul Bose.
What works: The actors, the real-life tale of a hero.
What doesn't: The dialogues.
Number of weeks: 3.
BO verdict: Flop.
Phillauri
Cast: Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma and Mehreen Pirzada.
Director: Anshai Lal.
What works: Actors, songs.
What doesn't: Poor climax, lackluster editing, monotonous.
Number of weeks: 4.
BO verdict: Flop.
Anarkali Of Arrah
Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathy.
Director: Avinash Das.
What works: Actors, music, sound, cinematography, production design, dialogues and direction.
What doesn't: Second half could have been tighter.
Number of weeks: 4.
BO verdict: Poor.
Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Sahil Vaid.
Director: Shashank Khaitan.
What works: Good performances by the lead cast.
What doesn't: Old story in a new bottle, poor detailing.
Number of weeks: 6.
BO verdict: Super hit.
Read the reviews: Raja Sen/ Sukanya Verma
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