NEW DELHI, Jan 9: Notwithstanding a big star cast comprising superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hyderi and Neil Nitin Mukesh and accolades from film industry and critics, the ‘first week of January jinx’ seems to have hit the action thriller Wazir which released yesterday.
Despite receiving plaudits from the film industry and film critics for its taut storyline and brilliant performances by its star cast, the Bejoy Nambiar directed ‘Wazir’ has opened at the box office on a slow note.
Touted as among the most awaited action thrillers of the year, ‘Wazir’ recorded poor occupancy in the cinema halls across the country. ”Wazir’s opening in India has been very slow,”trade analyst Komal Nahta said.
The lukewarm response to the film has come as a surprise to many who had hailed it as among the highly anticipated movies of the year with a cast comprising no less than Amitabh and Farhan and the banner of Vidhu Vinod Chopra films that have in the past given to the industry blockbusters like the ‘Munnabhai’ series and ‘Three Idiots’.
In fact, those among the members of the film industry who have watched the film have been all praise for it and have said that it is high on content and drama, has a taut storyline and boasts of excellent performances by Amitabh and Farhan .
Critics have also raved about the film and heaped praise on performances by Amitabh, Farhan and Neil Nitin Mukesh. However the opening day collections of the film, which trade sources say could range from Rs 3 to 4 crore, have belied the huge expectations.
Trade analysts say the less than encouraging response to the film goes to confirm the jinx that films released in the first week of January have never worked big at the cash registers. Analysts, however, feel that with its taut storyline and brilliant performances would help the film pick up by word of mouth. In this context they argue that recently, a lot of films , after a slow start, had picked up in the opening weekend and post that, it worked wonders.
For example, films like Dum Laga Ke Haisha, NH10, Piku and even Bajirao Mastani had a dull to decent opening but they picked up hugely over the coming weeks, when a good public word of mouth ensued. Analysts feel that with ‘Wazir’ also, word of mouth could lead to the film picking up momentum in the coming days.
Wazir has been in the pipeline for over 15 years before finally getting made now. Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted to make a Hollywood film called ‘Chess’ back in the early 2000s.
The film eventually underwent some major changes in the script and was finally released as ‘Wazir’. Wazir is the story of ATS officer Danish Ali ( Farhan Akhtar) who is grieving his daughter Noorie?s death after she gets shot in a gun-fire exchange between him and some terrorists.
Burdened with the guilt, Danish even contemplates suicide. His wife Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) too blames him for losing their daughter and distances herself from him. Thanks to his reckless act as a father as well as a cop, Danish is suspended for a span.
In the meanwhile, he meets an interesting personality, former chess master Omkarnath/Panditji ( Amitabh Bachchan). He is a wheel-chair bound Chess champ who has lost the game of his life. Panditji’s wife is killed in an accident where he loses his legs but his fate gives him a bigger jerk when his young daughter Nina dies a mysterious death.
Panditji soon approaches Danish to look into his daughter’s death case. She is claimed to have died after falling from the staircase at Welfare Minister Izaad Qureshi’s residence.
Panditji suspects that it is a murder and soon Danish hops onto this investigation. During this investigation, Panditji is attacked by a mysterious man called Wazir. Who is Wazir and will Danish be able to track him down and uncover the truth behind Nina’s murder is what the story further unfolds into. (UNI)
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