There's been a lot of wet handkerchiefs, but Karan Johar has made a novel discovery: making people cry is good business. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G)-reportedly one of the most expensive films ever to be made in Bollywood-has its audience shedding copious tears right across the globe from Los Angeles and New York to London, and back home. Those tears are translating into big money.

In its first week, K3G made history by grossing $2.5 million in North America and the UK. Analysts predict that figure could go on to hit $6 million. In America alone, the tearjerker grossed $1.1 million in its first weekend on just 73 screens-a first for any Indian film. Unofficially, it made it to the top 10-again a first for an Indian film in the US. A controversy over computerised printouts of box-office returns kept it out of the Daily Variety list, where it should have figured as number nine.

K3G also became the only Bollywood movie to shoot up to the top three on the UK charts.
At Cineworld Feltham, one of the biggest multiplexes in the UK, K3G is running on four screens with 12 to 15 shows each day. "During the second week all evening and afternoon shows are housefull and even morning ones are 75 to 80 per cent full," says General Manager Mark Cooper. According to the trade journal Screen International, it opened at 41 sites on December 14, and took £473,355, dwarfed only by Harry Potter and 51st State. "It has been very heavily promoted, and unusually widely distributed, but it is still absolutely phenomenal," said Robert Mitchell of Screen International.

CINEMA

BLACK LISTED Yashraj Films, distributors of k3g, felt cheated that the film was not on the record book in the first week because the influential trade publication Daily Variety did not list the film on its box-office chart of 100 movies. This, despite its North American weekend gross of $1.1 million qualifying K3G to be the Number 9 movie of the week. Daily Variety refused to believe that a foreign film playing on only 73 screens had grossed $1.1 million. It sought out such proof as computer printouts from K3G distributors. Variety reports are published by Tuesday morning, and distributor Yashraj phoned in, as is the norm, a few hours before the deadline. There was just no time for Yashraj to convince Variety that its film had become the first desi movie to crack the top 10 box-office list, says Jawahar Sharma of Yashraj. -Mabel Pais.

Back home, sceptics thought the stellar cast and its whopping Rs 40 crore budget would backfire. But the film-with just one star-studded karva chauth song costing approximately Rs 3 crore-has broken box-office records in a hit-starved industry. K3G opened to two weeks of advance booking enabling producers to recover costs-a reported Rs 10-20 crore. In two weeks it has broken the entire run of Mohabbatein and Dil Chahta Hai, say some.

Amod Mehra of Business Entertainment Network says it has done between 90-100 per cent business in the metros ending the year on a happy note for the distributors too.

Says seasoned exhibitor Manoj Desai, "People have loved the emotional drama and the pairings. I admit crying thrice during the movie myself.'' While Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan's performances have been appreciated it is really Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol who have stolen the show. According to Film Information Editor Komal Nahta, "This is the comeback vehicle for Khan after box-office debacles like One Two Ka Four and Asoka.''

RARE VALUES: K3G promotes family bonding

There was nothing new in the film: a powerful patriarch blinded by affluence and arrogance, a silent suffering mum, two handsome young men with beautiful belles swinging around them ... But then there was something else that made K3G a super hit, especially overseas: the story is soaked in NRI sentimentality. A Punjabi bahu yearning to return home, a lovely child raised on the notion of India being the best, a teenager lost in the love of a desi boy; frequent phone calls to India and karva chauth. Finally, the Jana-Gana-Mana at Osterely Park, popular among the health-conscious elders of Hounslow and Southall. Thank you K3G, it's NRI life in nutshell.

In its first week, K3G grossed $2.5 million in North America and the UK. Analysts predict that figure could go on to touch $6 million.

"Any movie that becomes a hit just before the Christmas season is going to be a bigger hit," says Paul Noglows,a movie analyst and former writer at Variety. If the predicted $6 million-figure on both sides of the Atlantic is reached, K3G would have made roughly 35 per cent more than the individual gross of such huge hits as Hum Apke Hain Koun! and Taal. But the box-office could suffer considerably if pirated video cassettes hit desi stores soon.

However, fans who were seeing the film for the second or third time said this was one movie they wanted to see on the big screen as many times as possible. "It has no special effects, and you may say you can watch it at home on the small screen," said New Yorker Simran Singh who is in her mid-20s. "But I can't laugh and cry so spontaneously with my parents around."

Some in the audience may have gone rah-rah and cried copious tears. But there are others who have been less generous in their reaction. "It was a bad script. I did not expect this,'' said Amita Sahi, a viewer in Mumbai, scathingly.

There is also a note of caution. According to a trade analyst, the film has not made a dent in smaller towns and cities. Obviously, the designer universe has not struck a cord with the masses like Gadar-Ek Prem Katha did. Others agree that a clearer picture will emerge once the vacations are over as the holiday season and the unprecedented star cast have been big draws. "If the film is still going strong after the fourth week, we have a blockbuster on our hands,'' says Desai.

For now it is a weep and win situation. Let others cry. Johar can afford to laugh all the way to the bank.

-With inputs by Vijay Rana in London and Mabel Pais in New York