A juicy update this month consisting of a film by film analysis of Lollywood Box Office performance in 2000 - the hits the misses, the surprises and the disappointments (and there were loads of those!), the best performances and the worst.

Also the latest Box Office position as of February 2001 in which the Eid releases are gauged including the much hyped and talked about Tere Pyar Main.

Finally, the usual nuggets of casting news and gossip right from the heart of Royal Park, Lollywood.

FILM BY FILM BOX OFFICE REPORT FOR 2000.

2000 was a miserable year at the Box Office with barely a handful of films of nearly 50 made doing good business. On the whole, the industry suffered enormous losses and the picture was rather bleak going into the new year.........with everything hinging on the forthcoming Eid releases. The following is a blow by blow analysis of the box office performance of each film released during the year in chronological order.

9th January saw the release of GHAR KAB AAO GAY, ANGAARAY, BAALI JATTI and JAG MAHI. Ghar Kab Aao Gay was considered the most expensive film ever produced in Pakistani cinema history but went on to become a Box Office smash, recovering its money within days and showering its investors with money. Babar Ali stole the acting honours while Noor had a golden debut. The film went on to complete a Golden Jubilee in the Punjab circuit.

ANGAARAY starring Shaan, Saima, Moammar Rana and Sana was an awful film which was met with resounding rejection as it flopped very badly causing heavy losses to investors.

JUG MAHI was Parvez Rana's film featuring Anjuman in a meaty feminist role. The movie did average business and managed at least to recover its money for investors. Naseebo Lal's song Tun Tun Ek Tara Bole was very popular earlier in the year and helped to attract an initial crowd.

BAALI JATTI with Saima, Shaan, Moammar Rana and Sana was a washout leaving cinemas within weeks of opening.

In February another 4 films were released among which were the Anjuman starrer PEENGAN which was met with derision and a horrible Box Office death. Babar Ali and Sana also featured in the cast.

Next up was Iqbal Kashmiri's HUM KHILADI PYAR KE starring Shaan, Neeli, Sana, Arbaz Khan and Nirma. It added to the growing list of Box office failures running to empty halls for a measly few weeks.

On the 25th of February two films were issued which were YAAR CHAN VARGA starring Shaan, Reema, Saud. The film failed miserably causing huge losses to investors and another bomb of sizable proportions was LONG DA LASHKARA also causing heavy losses to investors. Lashkara also starred Shaan and Reema.

On March 17th a whopping four films were released among which were MUJHE CHAND CHAHIYE, JUNGLE QUEEN, PEHCHAN and YAAR BADSHAH.

MUJHE CHAND CHAHIYE enjoyed very solid business and went on to become one of the few successes of the year. Shaan directed and starred in the film along with Noor, Moammar Rana and Javaid Shaikh. But it was Reema who walked away with the plaudits with a sizzling performance.

JUNGLE QUEEN starring Saima, Moammar Rana, Rambo was a washout. The masses totally rejected their beloved village belle Saima in the role of scantily clad jungle babe. The film was a total disaster, one of five flops to Syed Noor's credit during 2000.

PEHCHAN with Shaan, Saima, Saud and Reema was also a disaster lasting barely a couple of weeks before fading out. It was a stale and boring formula film that audiences were clearly fed up with.

YAAR BADSHAH featuring Shaan and Saima together for the umpteenth time as well as Nargis, Saud and Bahar. The film was one of the few successes of the year and performed very strongly in the Punjab region. Saud's acting was loved by the masses in this typical Parvez Rana melodrama.

In April only two movies were released which were PASAND as well as GHABROO PUNJAB DA. Both were unmitigated disasters. PASAND starred Reema, and Babar Ali while GHABROO PUNJAB DA had Shafqat Cheema in the leading role. It ended up as possibly the flop of the year and was not as yet released in the Sind circuit after its horrendous show on home turf in Punjab.

During May 4 films were released among which were SANGDIL starring Shaan and Saima, Reema and Saud. The film was a dud at the box office however Saud's performance was appreciated yet again.

DIL SE NA BHOOLANA with Saud, Meera, Sana, Sahiba was a another in the long line of flops.

RESHMAN directed by Madame Sangeeta with Sana in the title role was another disaster. The other stars in this village yawn were Moammar Rana and Resham.

On the 19th of May a huge multi-starrer KHUDA KEY CHOR was released. This film had a fantastic initial but fizzled out rather quickly. Yet on the basis of its initial it managed to recover the money its investors put into it. A commission earner yet disappointing considering the mammoth star cast featuring Shaan, Saima, Reema, Saud, Babar Ali, Badar Munir, Rambo as well as Shahid. Saud again stole the acting honours and was loved by the masses.

In June 3 films were released which were JINNAH, BANARSI CHOR and MERI TAUBA.

JINNAH was released amidst massive fanfare and publicity but turned out to be an underperfomer. It managed okay business in the city centres but overall did far less than was expected of it.

BANARSI CHOR starring Ghulam Mohiuddin, Rambo and Rangila was an enormous flop barely running for a couple of weeks and MERI TAUBA which had been making for a long time was stale on arrival and had a miserable take at the Box Office. The film starred Javaid Shaikh and Neeli.

In July along with the rains came 5 new releases. First up was Noor's first Punjabi film which was also her first solo starrer. The film SOHNI KUDI was a total disaster and quite a setback to Noor's budding career.

She also came cropper in Syed Noor's true crime drama BILLI which also starred Saima, Saud, Meera and Nadeem. The film was met with complete public rejection.

LOVE IN HOLLAND arrived next and had been making for four years with a couple of stars in the lead that absolutely no one wanted to see. It proved so as the film bombed horribly. The lead couple were Leila and Ahsan Khan.

WADA and JATTI DA VEER were released at the end of the month. WADA starring Saima, Saud, Noor and Moammar Rana. The film did average business and managed to turn into a commission earner if only just. Again Saud's acting was lapped up by the masses.

JATTI DA VEER despite having the most wonderful poster art of the year featuring a blood drenched Anjuman with an AK-47 and handbag was not appreciated by the masses and fell well short of expectations. Saud, Sana, and Moammar Rana also starred in this misfire.

3 films were released in August. On the 11th two movies were released which were NO PAISA, NO PROBLEM and Madame Sangeeta's SULTANA DAKU.

NO PAISA starring Humayun Saeed, Fakhr-e-Alam, Sana, Nirma and Noor. The film bombed very badly.

Madame Sangeeta's rather formula fare SULTANA DAKU featured Shaan in Sultan Rahi mode. Clearly it's what the public wanted because the film went on to storm the Box Office and is still running in regular shows in Lahore at the time of writing....thats six months of regular shows, quite a performance. The film starred Saima alongside Shaan and also Zeeshan Sikander.

The much awaited Syed Noor film MEHNDI WALAY HATH was released to packed houses and a storm of public interest. The film had much to live up to and many expected another CHOORIAN which was a little unfair. Yet, MEHNDI WALAY HATH managed to become a considerable hit and along with SULTANA DAKU still runs in the Punjab circuit running in regular shows in the major centre's. Not quite CHOORIAN but a major hit all the same.

In September 5 more films were released one of which is going to most probably be Anjuman's last Lollywood film. Unfortunately for her EK DHEE PUNJAB DI was a bomb bringing her comeback to a premature end. Saud, Resham and Nargis also starred in the fiasco.

KAHAN HAI QANOON came out in the middle of the month and managed to struggle along to a commission earning status due mostly to Saud's crowdpleasing performance. The film also starred Shaan, Saima, Resham and Nirma.

One of the stinkers of the year came out on the 15th which was Syed Noor's LAAKHON MEIN AIK. Babar Ali, Meera, Saima and Moammar Rana starred in what was one of the heaviest money losers of the year

MARVI followed a week later and barely managed a decent run at all.

On the 29th came one of the few hit films of the year, Masood Butt's BILLO 420. The film which was remarkable for how truly bad it was, managed somehow to catch the pulse and it went on to become a sizable smash hit and is still running in the Punjab circuit 3 shows a day. Ibrar Ul Haq's popular Cycle song has been give much credit for the films success though Reema's spunky performance probably did the trick. The film starred Reema in the title role along with Saima, Moammar Rana, Rambo and Babar Ali and Nargis.

In October MR. FRUADIAY got the ball rolling but barely as it flopped very badly indeed. The film starred Shaan, Meera, Saud and Sana.

On the 13th of October Syed Noor's BAITEE was released to no interest and petered out rather rapidly from the scene. The movie starred, needless to say, Saima along with Babar Ali, Moammar Rana, Nirma and Sana.

Next up was the much publicised and rather expensive action film BAROOD starring Shaan, Moammar Rana, Resham and Reema. The film started slowly but has slowly built a following by word of mouth and still runs in a few theaters in the Punjab circuit. It has managed to recover its cost which is not a bad achievement.

The next release was ABHI NAHIN TO KABHI NAHIN with a multi star cast featuring Shaan, Moammar Rana, Saima and Deeba. The film didn't create much of a buzz and died out fairly quickly.

The last release of October was a Parvez Rana quickie made in record time within a month. It was a revival of the Sultan Rahi style of films and Shaan did his impersonation very effectively indeed. The film which arrived with very low aspirations clicked in a huge way and ended up as a storming success at the end of a particularly lean year. ISHTAHARI GUJJAR is still running to packed houses in the Punjab circuit and has been a most unexpected boon to the industry. Not only that, it is going to prove to be a very influential movie as in its wake, numerous violence oriented films have been announced and a Sultan Rahi revival is just around the corner. YAAR BAADSHAH in which Shaan also did his Rahi impersonation also hit the jackpot, but ISHTAHARI GUJJAR has won the lottery! GUJJAR stars Shaan, Saud, Sana, Nargis and Bahar.

In November 3 films were released just before Ramadan set in and the lull before the Eid frenzy which was going to be the last week of the year. LAZAWAL started well but fizzled out very quickly. The film starred Ghulam Mohiuddin.

NOORAN with Saima and Moammar Rana in the lead roles also started well but faded very quickly indeed.

Noor's MEHBOOBA starring newcomer Ali Sher was an unmitigated disaster and yet another bad career move on the starlets part.

With this movie came to a close a pretty unsteady year for the industry and all bets were nervously placed on the upcoming Eid attractions (Read on for a report on how the Eid releases fared at the Box Office)

BOX OFFICE FEBRUARY 2001 UPDATE:
LOLLYWOOD IS ELATED AS EID BRINGS BUMPER SUCCESS

The Eid releases have virtually all managed to hit the jackpot and and Lollywood has been in a state of shock due to this sudden, unprecedented success with not one or two but three and four cinema's displaying House Full boards on a daily basis. Things are buzzing once again in Royal Park and activity in the studio's is reaching fever pitch in the wake of the early success of 2001. It remains to be seen how long this boom lasts, but for the moment, things are looking as rosy as they did bleak just two months ago.

Leading the pack of hits is TERE PYAR MAIN which has performed outstandingly throughout the nation. Though it may not topple any all time records, the film has managed very solid returns and is showing some serious legs with crowds still packing the halls a good six weeks into release. The first four weeks of the film saw virtually 100% collections in all the four major screens it was displayed as well as the numerous side screens that were displaying the movie. Collections above 90% were still being reported in the fourth and fifth week from Lahore, Karachi and Hyderabad which underlines the fact that this is a hit of serious proportions.

AAG KA DARIYA - had a storming initial week opening to 100% business all over matching TERE PYAR MAIN all the way. However business steadied down from the second week and failed to match TPM subsequently. However despite Babar Ali's overacting, Shaan and the "western" style production has been well appreciated and the film is a sizable hit running to 80 - 85% in its second and third weeks and managing steady business subsequently.

GHULAM - started very well and Moammar Rana has been appreciated especially in Sind where the film performed better than it did in Punjab. The movie managed to draw crowds during the Eid holidays and took a solid 90% in its opening week, but the second week saw a considerable drop in business as interest frittered out rather rapidly Still, the strong initial has meant that the film will turn a decent profit.

JUG WALA MELA - a cracking initial with 100% collections all over the Punjab in its opening week - and has maintained a solid performance with 80% in subsequent 2nd and 3rd week. The film is shortly to be released in Sind where hopes are fairly high after Punjab's big success.

Incidentally MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2 also had a tremendous initial collection of 100% during its first week or so and has managed to do steady business thereafter.

The early word on RUKHSATI is that though it began well, it has fizzled out rather quickly leaving its investors fairly disappointed as it was an expensive production.

DIL KACH DA KHADONA was pulled from Eid release at the eleventh hour and has been just released in the beginning of February. Watch out for further Box Office reports to find out about how Syed Noor's third Saima - Moammar romantic saga fared

A BIT OF THIS AND A BIT OF THAT

Syed Noor has announced QAIDI NUMBER 786 in which Shaan is set to play the title role with Saima to star opposite him. Please note in the list of forthcoming releases that Shaan features in 17 of 21 films listed which suggests that his domination in Lollywood is complete.

Shehzad Gul inserted a special role for Noor in TERE PYAR MAIN and likewise Iqbal Kashmiri inserted Moammar Rana as a guest in AAG KA DARIYA.

While Shaan is playing the title role of DACAIT in Syed Noor's upcoming film, he has also been roped in for DAKOO by Jamshed Nazir......after DAKU RANI, SULTANA DAKU....enough already with the Dakoo thing!

Iqbal Kashmiri has just cast Shaan in his movie SANGRAM while Masood Butt is casting him in and as ANSOOBALA.

Shooting nearly completed: Masood Butt's HAKUMAT, Syed Noor's BAAGHI, Sangeeta's DEKHA JO CHEHRA TERA with Reema has also had legendary Chakori added to the cast.

Sets of Shezad Gul's TERE PYAR MAIN have been displayed at various points in Lahore for the people to admire!

Babar Ali appears to be following in the steps of the great Aslam Parvaiz who started off as a romantic hero but ended up as an extraordinarily brilliant screen villain. Babar Ali, after GHAR KAB AAO GAY, MEHNDI WALAY HATH and recently AAG kA DARIYA has many more negative roles coming in his direction than romantic roles. His looks lend themselves to villainy rather than romance, surely!

Shock! Horror!...but absolutely true - Saima has been dropped from a film to accommodate new starlet Zara Shaikh. Lady Saima has been bumped from Ilyas Kashmiri's MAJOR SAAB and been replaced with Zara - in fact in the wake of TERE PYAR MAIN, Zara is being cast opposite Shaan in most films - and as Shaan literally stars in 90% of all films at the moment, it will mean that Zara is going to be a very busy girl.

Moammar Rana and Neeli have both announced their intentions of acting in TV serials - small wonder with Shaan reigning supreme on the big screen, Rana is a very, very distant 2nd place while Neeli has been virtually forgotten by current filmgoers and is hardly missed.

Saima recently jacked up her price once again on Syed Noor's advice. She says she feels the stress of having to carry the weight of the entire industry on her slender shoulders! Producers have shown disdain for her decision yet the silent lady insists that those who cannot meet her demands ought not to bother calling her secretary.

The much publicized spat between Reema and Masood Butt on the sets of HAKUMAT which led to Reema storming out of the film had a history to it. The two had been at loggerheads since the shooting of NIKKI JAEE HAAN when Reema had been indignant that the song Gore Rang Pe Dupatte Wali be picturized on her rather than on Saima. Butt stuck to his guns and the song was filmed on Saima. Later on the sets of Mukhra Chan Varga, there was more tension. But the real reason insiders claim for Reema walking away from HAKUMAT was that one day on the set some unit person reminded her that she was working "under" Saima which led to Reems blowing a fuse on the spot. She was so incensed that she stomped out earning a Rs. 8 million lawsuit against her by Masood Butt for not honouring her contract. Reema, contends Butt, had signed for HAKUMAT without reading the script and when she found she was pitted against Saima she got seriously cold feet. Apparently HAKUMAT is a one woman tour de force on the lines of Anjuman great INSANIYAT KE DUSHMAN from the 80's. Saima, according to insiders has delivered a stunning performance worthy of Anjumans classic turn back in the 80's. By the way, Sana has replaced Reema in HAKUMAT.

With Zara Shaikh on the horizon, Reema would do well to start mending fences as quickly as possibly or she will find herself swamped by the fresher faces of Sana, Zara, Noor and new siren Megha who is ex 70's siren Mumtaz's cousin.

Resham has decided to take on TV dramas in order to try to remain in the limelight. This decision was made in light of the poor performance of her film releases and fans will recall that she actually started her career on the small screen. Lately she has announced plans to produce and then she intends to turn her talents to direction as well.......the world waits with baited breath!

Zeeshan Sikander was introduced by Sameena Pirzada in Inteha and despite being the hero of the film it was Humayun Saeed who took the National Award. Despite that Zeeshan has been embraced by Lollywood producers who have been keen to cast him wherever possible. Inteha was a massive success and then Zeeshan followed up with GHAR KAB AAO GAY and SULTANA DAKOO - both smash hits of the year. Then when AAG kA DARIYA with Zeeshan became a hit - Lollywood was buzzing with the word that whichever film contains Zeeshan seems to turn to Box Office gold!

Saud is apparently so distraught at the failure of his movies that in his loads of spare time all he does is brood. He is hoping to be able to depart for the US and is hoping Reema will join him as both of them appear to have their best behind them.

Nargis was recently the target of an abduction attempt which has left the producers of a stage show she is currently working with in Karachi with a serious security bill as the lady has to be protected not only at her flat but also at the theatre itself.

A new film entitled KAUN JEETA KAUN HAARA was announced by Nasir Adeeb to star (naturally) Shaan, Saud, Babar Ali, Resham, Sana and a couple of fresh faces.

After the success of AAG KA DARIYA director Iqbal Kashmiri has announced SANGRAM to star Shaan, Meera, Noor, Babar Ali and Javaid Shaikh.

Shamim Ara has nabbed Zara Shaikh for her new film GEET and naturally Shaan is set to co star. But rumour has it that Ms. Ara is having trouble finding finances for her projects and GEET is yet to get off the floor.

MARD KA BACHCHA, a comedy starring Omar Sharif is set to star Shaan, Noor, Sana and veteran Nadeem as well as Mustafa Quraishi.

HAKUMAT has been wrapped up by Masood Butt and rumour has it that Saima has given an outstanding performance - one of the best of her career.

Hanif, Saima's secretary has turned producer hiring his boss as the leading lady along with Reema and Moammar Rana in UFF YEH BEEWIAN which is being directed by Syed Noor.

Starlet Noor has announced that she will no longer be heeding Daddy's advice as it led to her signing a number of rotten Z grade films like Sohni Kudi and Mehbooba. Insiders say Noor is not the most balanced thinker at the best of times.

Shaan and Saima have been signed for GUJJAR 302 while Sangeeta's highly anticipated GHARANA is now complete and slated for an April/May release. The film stars Meera, Resham, Babar Ali, Shahid and Megha (Mumtaz's cousin).

Shaan has been speaking with some excitement about his role in just released MERI PUKAR in which he says he has given a novel performance.

Saud has recently been dropped from TOHFA PYAR DA and replaced with the far more bankable Shaan. The film also stars Resham, Meera and Arbaz Khan.

E-mail OAK your Lollywood comments and questions