There were speculations galore in the film industry as to which film would make it to the theatres on Eid and which won't. Traditionally, Eid is considered bountiful for the box office as people normally come out in large numbers to cinemas after Ramazan. Therefore, like always, there was a mad scramble for the films that were releasing on Eid this year.

At a time when only one film (Yeh Dil Aapka Huwa) proved a superhit throughout Pakistan, most of the film makers were eagerly waiting for such an occasion in order to make up for the year's losses. That is why, as many as five films were released on Eid, out of which three were Urdu, while two were Punjabi. They were Fire, Daku, Manila Ke Jasoos, Sher-e-Azam and Budha Gujjar.

The talk in the trade eversince Fire was launched was that Asif Ali Pota would be able to deliver the goods, especially since he has experience in television, and popular plays like Kaanch Key Par and Mom Ka Chehra to his credit. It was thought that he would come up with something really different.

As it turned out, the collections of the first two days were excellent, but the general public came to the conclusion that the film was not any different from the typical stuff that was shown the rest of the year. Fire has been called a weak effort from a good writer cum director. No doubt the film is still running in the theatres, but it is clear that Asif's dream and wish to give a hit bigger than YDAKH has not been realised.

Fire will definitely cover its expenses, but expecting that it will be a hit is not being realistic. That is why the prices of the tickets have been lowered. Daku, Shan's fourth venture, was in the making for quite long, but one thing that Shan was confident of, this time, was 'word-of-mouth' publicity. He obviously thought that the film would create a lot of hype. His confidence must be shattered as the film proved a flop in major sectors.

No doubt Shan has excelled in direction in the movie and there is little experimentation on his part, and more experience showing, but the Amitabh Bachan's Do Anjanay-inspired flick has a lot of drawbacks, such as his sticking to Noor for item numbers and Saima as the lead heroine.

Manila Key Jasoos, in which Iqbal Kashmiri has tried to redo Ghar Kab Aao Ge, has the whole Lollywood working in it. From the likes of Veena to Sana to Resham, and among actors, Babar Ali, Saud, Imran Khan and Shan. Except that here the effects are not so alluring for the public.

Budha Gujjar, Syed Noor's much-tomtommed flick, is surprisingly enough doing better and the reason is simply that Shahji is one film maker that knows how to make a film for the Pakistani public. This Shan and Saima starrer has simply everything that the masses want.

Sher-e-Azam is Sangeeta's fourth consecutive hit in a row, and that makes Sangeeta the darling of producers. Though the film was completed in a very short span of time, it is going ahead of all the other Eid flicks. It is interesting to note that this flick was never considered to be in the rat race.

The viewers can now look forward to some good releases in the next month, some of which definitely look promising, such as Faheem Burney's Pyar Hi Pyar Mein and Samina Peerzada's Shararat.

--Yasir Nisar