We cannot vouch for the authenticity of these box office numbers given by independent box office tracking site Box Office Detail. However, until we have some official box-office tracking system in Pakistan this is all we have got. The numbers are also revised at times and hence you may observe fluctuations.
It was a clash of old school Lollywood titans as Syed Noor’s ambitious ‘Chain Aye Na’ and Shafqat Cheema’s ‘Geo Sar Utha Kay’ released in cinemas all over Pakistan 11 August. (Yes, we know that GSUK is directed by Nadeem Cheema but the film was primarily riding on Shafqat Cheema’s stardom).
Interestingly it was also a clash of star kid debuts as ‘Chain Aye Na’ marked the debut of Shahroz Sabzwari (son of veteran TV actor Behroze Sabzwari) and Sarish Khan (grand daughter of veteran film actress Sabiha Khanum). while ‘Geo Sar Utha Kay’ was the launchpad for Sheheryar Cheema (son of Shafqat Cheema) along with a plethora of new actors.
Now both the films had minimal pre-release buzz and a box office success was never on the cards but the box office tally for both the films has been disappointing, to say the least. The opening day itself was not that great where ‘Chain Aye Na’ raked in 6.29 lakhs and ‘Geo Sar Utha Kay’ collected 6 lakhs because shows all over Pakistan played to almost empty cinema halls.
The word of mouth for both films was negative so a growth never really happened. The Independence Day festivities gave the films some push but not as much for the films to register decent opening weekend numbers. ‘Chain Aye Na’ raked in 16 lakhs while ‘Geo Sar Utha Kay’ collected 23.5 lakhs
The first week didn’t add much either as the number of shows were minimal. The second weekend ended things for Chain Aye Na which had no shows in Lahore and almost negligible shows all over Pakistan. Interestingly, the film did get one show in Lahore’s Super Cinemas when the second weekend ended and weekdays began. Geo Sir Utha Kay fared somewhat better at the single screens with it having fairly better amount of shows in the second weekend and so on. However, now that the third weekend has ended both films are out of cinemas and other than maybe a small centre somewhere in Punjab the films have ended their box office runs.
The total tally is as such:
Geo Sir Utha Kay: 0.35 crore ( approximate)
Chain Aye Na: 0.25 crore ( approximate)
2017 is definitely turning out to be quite a depressing year for Pakistani Cinema, but we hope that Eid releases ‘Punjab Nahi Jaungi’ and ‘Na Maloom Afraad 2’ bring back some festivity at the box office.
Stay tuned to Galaxy Lollywood for updates.
