Small six to keep box office busy till Eid

New Delhi, Aug 23 (IANS) Trade analysts are calling it the lull before the storm. Salman Khan-starrer 'Bodyguard' will hit the screens on Eid, but several lesser known, small budget films will fill the gap till then.

Be it 'Chitkabrey', 'Shabri', 'Mr Bhatti On Chutti' or 'Yeh Dooriyan', 'Rivaaz' and 'Stand By', they will all release this Friday.

'I think this is a lull before the storm. If we look at the films that have released the previous Friday - 'Not A Love Story' and 'Sahi Dhande Galat Bande' - both the films had a poor start. However, I would not undermine any (forthcoming) film because they can be good,' trade analyst Taran Adarsh told IANS.

Though the title doesn't sound familiar and even the director is a newcomer, the theme of 'Chitkabrey' is interesting.

Director Suneet Arora narrates the intricacies of relationships in a world that is becoming smaller and smaller due to the fast-paced digital and technological revolution in his debut venture 'Chitkabrey'.

He has teamed up with Bhojupri superstar Ravi Kishan in the lead role. This would be Ravi's first Bollywood film as a solo hero.

This week viewers will also get to see television actress Deepshikha's directorial debut 'Yeh Dooriyan'. The actress has also produced the film and even plays the lead role in the film which talks about the struggle of a single mother and the story seems to have a resemblance to Deepshikha's life. Kaishav Arora, Achint Kaur and Delnaaz Paul will also feature in it.

Then there is the story of a female kingpin in 'Shabri', a production venture of Ram Gopal Varma that will finally see the light of day. It revolves around a simple village girl Shabri, played by 'Khallas' girl Isha Koppiker, who goes on to become the female crime lord. The film is directed by Lalit Marathe.

Another delayed film releasing this week is 'Mr. Bhatti On Chutti'. The release of the Anupam Kher-starrer, which was completed a year ago, was delayed.

Distributor Joginder Mahajan considers these films as gap fillers before the big release and is sceptical about the box-office response to them.

'You can consider such films as gap fillers but with Ramzan and Anna Hazare's fast stealing the limelight, the buzz is low. Moreover, barring a few, the other films hardly have any known names,' said Mahajan.

'And it is often seen that only those small budget films that have big names attached to them work at the box office whether it's 'Delhi Belly', 'Challo Dilli' or 'Peepli Live',' he said.

There are two more films - 'Rivaaz', a film about the dignity and hope of women who are traded in the name of tradition, and 'Stand By', which stars Sachin Khedekar and Dalip Tahil.

Though these small fish will try to swim and survive this week, next week is booked for Salman- and Kareena Kapoor- starrer 'Bodyguard'. After that the box-office will see a flurry of biggies starting with Anurag Kashyap's 'The Girl In Yellow Boots' coming on Sep 2.

It will be followed by Yash Raj's 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan', which has Imran Khan and Katrina, Sep 9, and then there is Pankaj Kapoor's directorial debut 'Mausam', which he has made with his actor son Shahid and Sonam Kapoor - it is scheduled for a Sep 16 release.

Other big films lined up for release are Akshay Kumar's Indo-Canadian venture 'Speedy Singh', John Abraham's 'Force', David Dhawan's 'Rascals' with Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn and Shah Rukh Khan's 'Ra.One'.

(Priyanka Sharma can be contacted at [email protected])