Raja Natwarlal has turned out to be a major flop at the box office. Even though the film was never looking at a massive total for itself before the release, a low opening day was an early alarm for the Emraan Hashmi starrer. Mixed reviews didn’t help the cause either and a dip on Saturday pretty much confirmed the worst fears for those associated with the film. They had a poor weekend, and things worsened over the weekdays, what with a further drop in collections. The result? First week billing of 26 crore, which is way below expectations.
Ideally, this should have been the bare minimum total for the opening weekend of this UTV production, considering the kind of set up that was put together for the film. The lack of a hit score was the starting point for the low opening, and a flat first half meant that the word of mouth wasn’t great either. Moreover, once the word spread that the overall con game involving Kay Kay Menon was way too simple to digest, it turned out to be a no-show for Raja Natwarlal which just couldn’t find its way back into the scheme of things, despite an ‘almost’ open week (collections of Mardaani too came down in the second week).
Expectedly though, the guns are out on Emraan Hashmi, as is always the case when a leading hero hasn’t delivered a bona fide hit for long. However, before one jumps to a conclusion, let’s state the fact that Raja Natwarlal too wasn’t a quintessential Hashmi starrer. Yes, he has had a forgettable run with Ghanchakkar, Ek Thi Daayan and Rush, but then this isn’t the first time he has gone through this rough patch. Way back in 2007, he had suffered three flops in a row with Good Bad Bad Boy, The Train and Awarapan, only to hit back with Jannat, Raaz and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai soon enough.
It is just a matter of time – and with Ungli, Mr X and Hamaari Adhuri Kahaani as his upcoming films, Emraan could very well rise back to glory pretty quickly.