Box Office: Aiyaary fares below average

The hits and misses of the week.

Neeraj Pandey's Aiyaary opened to mixed reviews, and ranked below average on its first weekend.

The film's length and confused screenplay makes its viewing tedious for audiences.

Onir's Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz fared poorly.

Akshay Kumar's PadMan was average after a 10-day run at the box office.

Vinod Mirani gives us his weekly verdict.

Aiyaary

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Manoj Bajpayee, Rakul Preet Singh, Pooja Chopra, Adil Hussain, Kumud Mishra, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher.
Director: Neeraj Pandey.
What works: Manoj Bajpayee, Kumud Mishra.
What doesn't: Poor direction, script, female characters are not drawn out.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Below Average.

• The Rediff Reviews: Sukanya Verma and Sreehari Nair

Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz

Cast: Geetanjali Thapa, Zain Khan Durrani, Shray Tiwari.
Director: Onir.
What works: Good performances, sensitive script, Onir's direction.
What doesn't: Too long.
Number of weeks: New.
Box Office verdict: Poor.

• The Rediff Review

PadMan

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte.
Director: R Balki.
What works: Akshay Kumar's performance.
What doesn't: Half-baked female characters; doesn't do justice to the actual story; unimaginatively shot.
Number of weeks: 1.
Box Office verdict: Average.

• The Rediff Reviews: Sukanya Verma and Sreehari Nair

Padmaavat

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Aditi Rao Hydari.
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
What works: The performances, visual spectacle.
What doesn't: Half-baked, linear characters, corny dialogues, too superficial.
Number of weeks: 3.
Box Office verdict: Hit.

• The Rediff Reviews: Savera R Someshwar and Sreehari Nair

Vodka Diaries

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Mandira Bedi.
Director: Kushal Srivastava.
What works: Nothing.
What doesn't: Unintentionally funny, drags.
Number of weeks: 4.
Box Office verdict: Flop.

• The Rediff Review

My Birthday Song

Cast: Sanjay Suri, Nora Fatehi, Zenia Starr.
Director: Sameer Soni.
What works: Good thrilling story, Sanjay Suri's performance.
What doesn't: Heavy dose of sex, which is not handled well.
Number of weeks: 4.
Box Office verdict: Flop.

• The Rediff Review

1921

Cast: Zareen Khan, Karan Kundra.
Director: Vikram Bhatt.
What works: Nothing!
What doesn't: No horror in this horror film, bad acting.
Number of weeks: 5.
Box Office verdict: Flop.

• The Rediff Review

Mukkabaaz

Cast: Vineet Kumar Singh, Zoya Hussain, Jimmy Shergill, Ravi Kishan.
Director: Anurag Kashyap.
What works: Performances, story.
What doesn't: The climax.
Number of weeks: 5.
Box Office verdict: Flop.

• The Rediff Review

Kaalakaandi

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Oberoi, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vijay Raaz, Deepak Dobriyal, Sobhita Dhulipala, Amyra Dastur, Isha Talwar, Shenaz Treasury, Nary Singh.
Director: Akshat Verma.
What works: Saif Ali Khan, funny in parts.
What doesn't: Screenplay.
Number of weeks: 5.
Box Office verdict: Flop.

• The Rediff Review

Tiger Zinda Hai

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Angad Bedi, Paresh Rawal, Kumud Mishra.
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar.
What works: Salman Khan.
What doesn't: Sloppy script, tiring sequel.
Number of weeks: 8.
Box Office verdict: Blockbuster.

• The Rediff Review