With the festive season smearing the aroma of sizzling BBQ in the aura, the Pakistani nation seemed more exhilarated by the smashing film releases on the first day of Eid ul Azha.
The spicy chemistry of Hrithik and Katrina in the action-thriller “Bang Bang” released on October 2 was quickly followed by two of the most awaited Pakistani releases, “Operation 021” and “Na Maloom Afraad” on Eid ul Azha, October 6.
The cinema’s in Pakistan saw long queues of excited audiences on the first and second day of Eid which saw Nabeel Qureshi’s ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ as a perfect spice on after ‘Bang Bang’ while the Shaan starrer ‘Operation 021’ was greeted with much skepticism in various parts of the country.
Directed by Jami and produced by Zeba Bakhtiar ‘Operation 021’ showed advanced production techniques due to which it was expected to garner positive response from the audiences. However bollywood’s latest blockbuster ‘Bang Bang’s box office collections outgunned the much hyped Pakistani film ‘Operation 021’ during the Eid holidays.
In some parts of the country the cinemas and exhibitors of the film were forced to take down the local offering from single screen cinemas after adverse reactions from the audience due to extensive use of English Language in the film.
At the famous Capri and Bambino single screen cinemas, the owners took the film off screen after just one or two shows on Eid as the crowd resorted to throwing objects at the screen, booing and demanding refund of their tickets.
The situation turned out to be quite fierce hence the cinema owners decided to use extras shows of the Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif starrer and the comedy film ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ as a cooling agent.
“It was a bad situation on Eid day as we had kept extra shows of ‘Operation 021’ but after the crowd rejected the movie we had no option but to pull it off screen,” Adeel Siddiqui, the owner of Bambino cinema said.
“We always do bonus business on Eid holidays when all shows are housefull. Unfortunately, this time things didn’t go as planned. Maybe the film was just too slow paced for the average cinema goer,” he added.
Manager Saleem at Capri cinema had a similar story to tell. “The crowds just didn’t want to watch the movie and were demanding refunds for their tickets,” he said.
The response of the film took the producers and Pakistani heartthrob Shaan by surprise as ‘Operation 021’, was expected to emulate the business done by ‘Waar’ last year at Eid. ‘Waar’ earned over Rs 200 crores at the Pakistani box office while ‘Operation 021’ earned a maximum of 5.5 million during the Eid holidays.
On the other hand, ‘Bang Bang’ had till the first day of Eid collected Rs 35 million in ticket sales across Karachi while ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ has gathered a total of 5.5 million so far.
Regardless of Hrithik’s ‘Bang Bang’ banging the cinema screens on Eid ul Azha and ‘Operation 021’ collecting more negative response than its turnover at the cinema, ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ continues to entertain the audiences with lavishing comedy and well-garnished acting amidst a pragmatic storyline.