Two films which belong to distinct genres release tomorrow – All Is Well and Manjhi – The Mountain Man. While the former is a light hearted family entertainer, the latter is a hard hitting biopic drama. Both films have been adequately promoted. While the Abhishek Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Asin starrer has been pitched as a musical affair with several smile-through moments, the Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer has seen a cutting edge promo for itself which brings to fore the real life tale of a common man’s perseverance.
Both films depend on word of mouth to find an audience. Though Abhishek Bachchan has delivered three huge biggies in a row now [Dhoom 3, Happy New Year, Bol Bachchan], All Is Well is his first solo release since Game [2011]. The film would be an acid test for him to showcase his pull amongst the audience. On the other hand, Nawazuddin, too, has been winning accolades with practically every release of his, be it Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kick or Badlapur. No one doubts his credentials as an actor, and it has to be seen how the audience pick him as a central protagonist for a film.
As filmmakers, both Umesh Shukla and Ketan Mehta carry certain clout. Former comes with a superhit OMG – Oh My God behind him, which started with a 4 crore opening day and went on to cross the 81 crore mark in its lifetime. One expects All Is Well to cross that opening number at the least on Friday. As for Ketan Mehta, his well made Rang Rasiya was delayed and had to settle down with an opening day of just 0.75 crore. That mark would be most certainly crossed by Manjhi-The Mountain Man.
All that has to be seen depending on how far the two films go from this point on and it would all boil down to reviews that come directly from the audience.