'Akash' the biggest Kannada hit after 'Aaptha...'

Bangalore, May 22 (IANS) Puneet Raj Kumar's latest film, "Akash", is proving to be the biggest hit after "Aaptha Mithra". It is also turning out to be the hottest among all the five Puneet films released so far.

"Akash": The film has collected around Rs.3 million in two weeks in the Mysore distribution area and nearly Rs.7 million in Bangalore. The Puneet-Ramya pair is the film's major attraction. Its massive success has proved once again producer Parvathamma Raj Kumar's Midas touch.

""Varsha": While "Akash" had an awesome opening, Vishnuvardhan's "Varsha", released a week earlier, is slowly becoming a silent super-hit. Female audiences are backing the film in a big way. The film, produced by Rockline Venkatesh and directed by S. Narayan, is a remake of the Malayalam hit "Hitler".

""Gunna": Only two films are doing well this summer, while all the others are just proving to be duds and mediocre. "Gunna", released last week, is one more mediocre film but has been able to attract some audience in the opening mainly because Sudeep has a guest role.

""Rakshasa": The film will not be able to recover its huge costs, but is still doing well in a few city centres. The film's scenes of excessive violence have put off female audiences.

""Kashi": The Sudeep-starrer is just an average film at the box office, and the distributors may just be able to recover their costs. But the producer, who has sold the film at a rate below the production cost, is bound to lose. The film's B and C collections are so-so.