MUMBA: It has been a dull scene at the box office windows all over as even the Salman Khan film, Jai Ho, has behaved way below expectations. The single screens were made to pay high MGs (the demand was “More than MGs paid for Dhoom3!). All stand to lose 50 to 60% of the MGs paid. They had a happy ending to year 2013 with Dhoom3 but have had a bad start to 2014. Also, there is no major film in sight in near future to rest their hopes on.

Salman Khan’s sermonising fare, Jai Ho, has not been able to draw crowds from day one. The audience seems to have a strong antenna about their choice and infer a lot from the publicity campaigns of a particular film. The film had a weak Friday and a Saturday which saw a drop instead of a rise in collections. The only saving grace were the Sunday collections which jumped by about 40% over its opening day figures. With an opening weekend of 57.2 crore, the film has not even managed to cross the mandatory 100 crore mark in its first week which is expected of any major star. The film ended its first week with 82.1 crore. It may just about manage to cross the 100 crore mark which still makes it a loser.

The solo release of the week, One By Two is a rank bad film and faced the consequences for being so. Lacking any story worth telling and a coherent script backed by poor handling, it failed to attract even a small fraternity of Abhay Deol fans. At many screens, there was ‘No audience, no show’ status. The film collected 1.4 crore for its first weekend.

Yaariyan, its mediocre content notwithstanding, has made its money. Having collected 32.05 crore in its first two weeks, the film has added another crore to its tally, taking its total to 33.05 crore.

Dedh Ishqiya has run out of steam by its third week. Adding just 80 lakh for its third week, the film’s three week take is 25.4 crore.