YRF's southern debut disappoints: Trade analysts

Chennai, Feb 25 (IANS) Prestigious Bollywood production house Yash Raj Films (YRF) forayed into southern filmdom with Tamil-Telugu bilingual "Aaha Kalyanam", but it has failed to impress, say trade analysts.

In its opening weekend, the film, a southern remake of hit Hindi movie "Band Baaja Baaraat", managed to collect merely Rs.2.01 crore from both the versions.

"Despite mixed reviews, the film opened to poor numbers. Both the versions collected just Rs.2.01 crore in its opening weekend. This is a disaster considering the film comes from a prestigious banner and was a blockbuster in Hindi," trade analyst Trinath told IANS.

The film has not been appreciate because it is a frame-to-frame copy of the original, says Trinath.

"While some critics liked it, others panned it because it lacked southern sensibilities. Most of the scenes were recreated from the original. Moreover, they shot in one language (Tamil or Telugu) and dubbed it into the other. Even that didn't go well with the viewers," he added.

Directed by Gokul Krishna, Nani and Vaani Kapoor starrer "Aaha Kalyanam" hasn't performed in the overeas market either.

"Tamil film 'Aaha Kalyanam', the remake of 'Band Baaja Baaraat' is a disaster in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand," posted Taran Adarsh on his Twitter page.

He further posted: "In the opening weekend, the Tamil version collected Rs.2.21 lakh in the US, Rs.22,835 in Canada, Rs.89,947 in Australia and Rs.16,143 in New Zealand. The Telugu version collected Rs.86,871 in the US."

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Aaha Kalyanam