Can PATIALA HOUSE emulate NAMASTEY LONDON

There are a lot of detriments in the case of Nikhil Advani's next Friday release PATIALA HOUSE. First of all the film is set to release just a week before the start of the much awaited ICC Cricket World Cup, and coupled with that, it will have no breathing space as the very next week, that is February 18 will see the release of Priyanka Chopra's red hot 7 KHOON MAAF. Second point in contention is that PATIALA HOUSE has Akshay in a very different image from his usual comic one that the public has so much become used to seeing Akki lately. Thirdly Nikihil Advani and Akshay do not share a good record with their first film CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA proving a dud and receiving brickbats from the audience and critics alike. However, we still expect PATIALA HOUSE to overcome all the hurdles and emerge triumphant not because we believe in being positive but because Akshay has done it in the past and we are hopeful that history will repeat itself. Without trying to confuse the issue further we would like to remind our patrons that NAMASTEY LONDON too released in the midst of ICC Cricket World Cup and emerged a hit. The film did not take an earth shattering start but it did sustain wonderfully and emerged a sleeper hit overcoming the myth that films released during World Cup do not bring in the audience. Secondly, NAMSTEY LONDON was a romantic emotional drama and came after the big success of Akshay's comedy films like BHAGAM BHAG and PHIR HERA PHERI and saw Akki in a lover boy image quite in contrast to his comic image. And from the promos of PATIALA HOUSE one can guess that this film, quite like NAMSTEY LONDON, is an emotional drama. The fact that the audience has somewhat got tired of Akki's over the top comedy films and so PATIALA HOUSE should indeed come as a breath of fresh air. Time and again the audience has showed that it accepts Akki in his loverboy image like DHADKAN, ANDAAZ, AITRAAZ etc to name a few, and we are sure that they will embrace Akshay with open arms yet again. Thirdly, NAMASTEY LONDON had its roots in Britain, just like PATIALA HOUSE which has UK as its backdrop. And last but not the least, the classy music of PATIALA HOUSE is getting popular with each passing day, and just like NL we are sure that the music, which has been excellently promoted by music giants T-Series, will again play a big part in bringing in the audience to the theater. Here's keeping our fingers crossed for our favorite 'Khiladi' to overcome all the obstacle and emerge a victor yet again.