MUMBAI: The Showman International’s ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ directed by Anand Kumar, starring Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Arshad Warsi and Paresh Rawal has failed to launch at the box office on its opening day.

The Day 1 collections of ‘Zila Ghaziabad’ were an extremely poor approximate Rs 34 million (Rs 3.40 crore) net. The occupancy of the film was an average 15 to 18%, which is quite dull for a film starring a major star. Single screens in the mass markets of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar salvaged the situation for the film, which would have otherwise been a complete washout.

Zila Ghaziabad’s collections have been quite dull in spite of the fact that the previous release, i.e. Fox Star’s ‘Murder 3’ was not doing great at the box office.

This week’s other release, Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kai Po Che’, with no major stars, has in fact taken lead over to the gangster film ‘Zila Ghaziabad’. ‘Kai Po Che’ has managed to garner good reviews and is dominating the scene at the box office this weekend.

The bad reviews across the board, and the poor Day 1 collections offer no hope for ‘Zila Ghaziabad’. It  is unlikely that the film can pick up the pace over the crucial first weekend, and manage to accrue a decent 3-day total.