Dull opening for 'Joker'

Shirish Kunder's second directorial venture "Joker" has not received a positive response at the box office, and might not stay in theatres for more than a week, according to trade pundits.

"Joker", starring Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, released Aug 31. Despite lot of innovative publicity campaigns, the film, centred around the theme of extra-terrestrials, is said to have collected only a little over Rs.15 crore in its opening weekend.

"'Joker' has done very bad business. In three days, the film must have collected approximately Rs.15 crore from all over India. The film shall hardly run for a week, not more than that," Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines, told IANS.

Trade guru Taran Adarsh tweeted: "'Joker' collected approximately Rs.15.50 crore to 15.75 crore nett in weekend 1. Breakup: Friday Rs.5 crore, Saturday Rs.4.75 crore, Sunday Rs.5.75 crore to Rs.6 crore. Disappointment!"

In Rajasthan, the film has done very dull business, said Sunil Bansal of Yash Raj Jai Pictures Pvt Ltd.

"It has hardly managed collections of around 30 to 35 percent in three days. Today morning, it had fallen down drastically," Bansal, Rajasthan-based distributor, told IANS.

According to another source, the movie collected only Rs.3.25 crore from New Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, and from Punjab, it managed to mint Rs.1.35 crore in the opening weekend.

"The film will hardly survive for a week," added the source.

Kunder's last release was the 2006 film "Jaan E Mann", which did average business.

In the meantime, Kunder has also announced he is no longer directing Salman Khan-starrer "Kick". Producer Sajid Nadiadwala has donned the director's hat for it now.