After critics, audiences reject 'Love Guru'

NEW YORK: After being panned by movie critics for its crudity, Mike Myers' controversial comedy "The Love Guru" has been rejected by audiences too it has managed to rake in just $14 mn at the box office over its opening weekend in the US and Canada.

The film has been beaten by another new comedy, 'Get Smart", which did an estimated $39.2 mn in weekend ticket sales. Critics disapproved of the Steve Carell starrer too for its stale jokes, but viewers seem to have preferred that over the "potty and stinky" jokes of "Love Guru".

In a serious embarrassment to Myers, whose "Austin Powers" movies were hugely successful, the "Love Guru" was placed fourth this week on the box office listings.

"Kung Fu Panda" from Paramount and DreamWorks Animation was placed No. 2 ($21.7 mn in ticket sales) in its second weekend, and "The Incredible Hulk" from Marvel and Universal Pictures took the third spot ($21.6mn).

A weak opening for "The Love Guru" was a setback for Paramount too, which has otherwise dominated the spring-summer box office with hits like "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

Indian American M. Night Shyamalan's spooky thriller "The Happening" took in another $10 mn over the weekend, raising its total revenue so far to about $50.3 mn.

Before its release, "The Love Guru", about the antics of India-reared American guru named Pitka, kicked up a controversy with some Hindu leaders suspecting that it "lampooned "Hinduism.

But after watching the film, both Indian American media and Hindu organisations such as Iskcon and Hindu American Foundation found nothing offensive in it and asked Hindus to view it with a "pinch of salt and a good sense of humour".
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