This week will see another tussle between a Hindi film and a Hollywood release with Ittefaq and Thor and it could go either way though if the Southern markets perform then it could be that Thor ends up ahead on the opening day. The suspense / thriller genre is tough to succeed and the few which have done so have always been backed by superhit music and where they offer a bit more than just sticking to a genre be it a Gupt or Agniskashi or many hits of 60's in this genre. But this film is more in the Hollywood style and is devoid of music and remains to be seen if it offers anything else in the form of entertainment apart from suspense in the film.

The film is a remake of the 1969 film Ittefaq but the problem here is that film itself was a flop in terms of content. The film got through financially but that was due to huge luck being in favour of the film. Ittefaq (1969) starred Rajesh Khanna in the lead and released early October 1969 and at this time Rajesh Khanna was a virtual unknown as far as the audience was concerned. It was first released in Mumbai, Kolkata and Jaipur and the latter two tanked. Mumbai was a bit better but even there a 13 theater release was down to one in the third week and the film was on its way out but then at the end of October 1969 a film named Aradhana came and Rajesh Khanna became a star and this built some interest in Ittefaq. Delhi / UP was released a month after Aradhana and other circuits were released post the historic blockbuster Do Raaste (December 1969) when Rajesh Khanna was a megastar.

So basically it was low budget film which was about to meet its waterloo at the box office but as fate would have it the male lead of the film became a megastar and such was the craze at that time that he could pull through a low budget Ittefaq while sleeping. Now it can be argued that in 1969 the film was ahead of its time but it does not really work like that. When a film fails it is due to some inherent things wrong in the film and that will apply to the audience today as well. The hope is the makers here know why Ittefaq (1969) failed in terms of content because if it has same problems there is no megastar to save the film this time.