MUMBAI:
Last
week
saw
the
release
of
'Jism'
and
'Dil
Ka
Rishtaa'.
The
former
was
a
hit
and
the
latter
flopped.
This
week
too,
two
big
films,
'Dum'
and
'Kucch
To
Hai',
hit
the
threatres.
Both
are
average
stuff,
generating
mixed
response.
Starring
Vivek
Oberoi,
Diya
Mirza
and
Atul
Kulkarni,
Dum
has
been
directed
by
E
Niwas
of
'Shool'
fame.
The
music
is
by
Sandip
Chowta.
But
despite
being
an
action
film
with
some
hard-hitting
dialogues
and
a
good
music,
it
opened
to
a
lukewarm
response
across
the
nation
last
Friday.
'Kucch
To
Hai',
a
whodunit
produced
by
soap
queen
Ekta
Kapoor,
also
failed
to
thrill
audiences
with
its
suspense.
Released
simultaneously
with
Dum,
this
heavily
promoted
and
superbly
publicized
thriller
failed
to
live
up
to
the
expectations
of
a
chilling
suspense
drama.
Dum
has
broken
the
myth
that
action
fares
take
a
good
initial.
It
was
a
big
let-down
with
the
audiences
and
the
box
office.
Though
the
presence
of
current
sensation
Vivek
Oberoi
helped
the
film
a
bit,
the
hackneyed
plot
of
a
young
man's
fight
against
the
establishment
did
not
bind
the
audiences
to
the
theatre.
The
first
week's
collections
were
just
68
per
cent
in
Mumbai
and
only
45
per
cent
in
Delhi,
while
at
other
places
the
collections
were
even
poorer.
Vivek
Oberoi
failed
to
deliver
a
hit
this
time
also
though
his
popularity
remains
intact.
On
the
other
hand,
Kucch
To
Hai,
starring
Esha
Deol,
Tusshar
Kapoor
and
new-comer
Natasha
and
heavily
publicized,
did
not
have
a
good
opening,
garnering
72
per
cent
in
Mumbai
and
61
per
cent
in
Delhi.
But
in
the
rest
of
the
country,
the
film
stands
to
lose
money.
January
31,
2003