Is the appeal of Yash Raj Films movies fading with the Indian diaspora in the United States?

We think so judging by the quality of Yash Raj’s last few movies and their relatively weak box office response in the U.S.

One of India’s largest movie makers and distributors, Yash Raj has seen some of its sheen wear off lately due to intense competition and higher audience expectation.

Now in the latest insult to Yash Raj, a rival production Bhool Bhulaiyaa has fared better than Yash Raj’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag in the first weekend at the U.S. box office.

In the October 12-14 weekend at the U.S. box office, Yash Raj’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag did a piffling $320,987 and came in at a miserable No-32 while Bhool Bhulaiyaa did a respectable $512,000 and came in at No-25.

According to the U.S. box office numbers, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag had the lowest first weekend collections of the last four Yash Raj movies released in the U.S.

Yash Raj’s previous film Chak De India featuring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan came in at No-20 in its first U.S. weekend (August 10-12) and grossed $351,887.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom debuted at No-16 and did $455,257 (June 15-17) while Ta Ra Rum Pum came in at No-24 and did $425,102 in its first weekend (April 27-29).

Bhool Bhulaiyaa was produced by T-Series, kids in the movie business compared to Yash Raj Films.

Eros distributed Bhool Bhulaiyaa in the U.S.

Yash Raj’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag featured a cast of big Bollywood big names like Rani Mukerji and Konkona Sen Sharma but failed to resonate in a big way with audiences owing to its pedestrian story and ho-hum performance of its lead star Rani Mukerji.

Featuring Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, Bhool Bhulaiyaa is a rehash of the successful Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu, which was subsequently made in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages.

We were not impressed with Bhool Bhulaiyaa either but going by the U.S. box office collections the movie-going audience seemed to like this movie better than Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.