September 7, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Opening of 'We Are Family' pretty much followed the script as it took an opening in the vicinity of 50% on Friday. The semi-release on Thursday when the film was shown at select multiplexes - especially in Delhi and Mumbai - for restricted number of shows (4-5) saw a better response though with over 70% occupancy, primarily due to the Janmashtami holiday. All in all, an extended weekend with collections in the excess of 14 crores was good enough to take the film past the safety path.
This, however, is far less than Karan Johar's last release 'I Hate Luv Storys' though which had netted 23 crores in the first weekend. What had worked in favour of the Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor starrer was hit music, a fresh pairing and a young theme which worked for the target multiplex audience. On the other hand 'We Are Family' has a family theme which means a terrific opening was always ruled out. A couple of factors that further hindered the film were average promos and non-happening music which got flak from most quarters. This is the reason why eventually it all settled down to good performances by Kajol, Kareena and Arjun that saved the day.
The film has seen decent reviews coming it's way with not many praising the film to the skies or dusting it down. The word of mouth has ranged from 'theek thaak' to good which means 'We Are Family' should settle down as an average affair. Will it continue to stick to theaters for an extended run? Well, it would be a wait and watch approach because 'Dabangg' would totally dominate the show on it's release. This means that 'We Are Family' will get a hit in its second weekend. However, post the 'Dabangg' euphoria, this Siddharth Malhotra directed fare may just about manage to enjoy a longer innings ahead due to no competition till 24th September before 'Anjaana Anjaani' hits the screen.
The other two releases of the week - 'Mallika' and 'Emotional Atyachar' - got totally sidelined due to 'We Are Family' being a major competition. Even though 'Mallika' was promoted optimally, especially considering the fact that it was a non-starcast affair and belonged to the horror genre, the film didn't find any takers. In fact, the film also saw terrible reviews coming its way, which proved to be a further nail in the coffin. No pun intended.
'Emotional Atyachar' was an interesting film and poor production values notwithstanding, it's storytelling did ensure a captivating watch. However, near to nil promotion coupled with a senseless title that didn't give an iota of an idea about what the film was all about meant that this ensemble cast affair saw zilch footfalls on its opening weekend. Even though Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey 'jodi' has been loved all over again with Kalki too managing some eyeballs, 'Emotional Atyachar' would have to search for it's audience on home video. As for satellite medium, it is doubtful if channels would pay a fancy amount for it, courtesy the expletives that occur every five minutes in the film.
-- Joginder Tuteja / Sampurn Wire