There was big Punjabi release this week with MAURH which looks like one of the better made Punjabi films and possibly among the most costly in terms of production budget but the box office was not too kind. The film opened at around 80 lakhs nett and it was pretty much a flat weekend as it finished up with 2.50 crore nett.

The film was based on Jeona Morh, a sort of Robin Hood in the 1920's and a film had been made earlier in 1992 (JATT JEONA MORH) which had proved a SUPER HIT. From the trailer of MAURH, it looked a far superior film. Despite the film looking good there is always doubt about the box office due to the way box office has worked in Punjab. The grossers have always come from the genre that is working in that era and here was a huge film out of the genre that is working today (comedy). Its sad in a way as this has always kept the industry very restricted in what they can make as attempts to go outside never got the desired results and its same story with MAURH.

The earlier 1992 JATT JEONA MORH was a regular commercial film made on a low budget as times were rough for the industry but it did well as those type of films were working at that time. Here is a much better film from all angles and probably an accurate representation of Jeona Morh with detailing but the public has just not come. 

The film working could have changed the film industry in terms of what content is made and bigger cinema could have been attempted. But sadly its about the tried and tested formula as far as the audience is concerned and this has always been the case for years. 

It is a coincidence that JATT JEONA MORH (1992) was released in the same week 31 years go. It was a three way clash in Punjab with JATT JEONA MORH, KHILADI (Akshay Kumar) and POLICE OFFICER (Jackie Shroff) with the Punjabi film coming out best in the long run. However, POLICE OFFICER opened best out of three as it had more prints than JATT JEONA MORH in the Punjab state and far more in the whole circuit. KHILADI lagged as at that time Akshay Kumar was a newcomer and not the star that he became later.