Last week's three releases – Priyadarshan’s Aakrosh, Mani Shankar’s Knock Out and the animated feature Ramayana The Epic – couldn’t create any waves at the box office.

Aakrosh fared better than the other two due to the positive reviews that it received from critics. The issue-based action drama starring Ajay Devgn, Akshaye Khanna and Bipasha Basu dealt with the topic of honour killings and is a remake of the 1988 Hollywood thriller Mississippi Burning. The first week collections of Aakrosh added up to Rs. 115 million with the opening weekend contributing around Rs. 75 million to the total.

Knock Out was completely knocked out by critics with some calling it a poor remake of the Hollywood thriller Phone Booth. A faction of the critics found it to be better than the Joel Schumacher movie on which it is loosely based. The action thriller starring Sanjay Dutt, Irrfan Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Gulshan Grover did find appreciation from bigwigs likeBachchans, Salman Khan and BJP leader L.K. Advani who came forward with huge accolades for director Mani Shankar’s efforts. This didn’t translate to brisk collections as the first weekend dragged to a Rs. 25 million in takings and the entire opening week could salvage a mere Rs. 40 million.

Ramayana The Epic was such a disaster at the box office that shows had to be cancelled at many multiplexes. Animated movies churned out by the domestic industry have never found takers in India (except in the case of Hanuman) and sadly Ketan Mehta’s venture followed the pattern.