Department has taken a nosedive like no other film from past or present. If the opening was horrendous, the weekdays showed hardly any respite. With everyone associated with the film coming out with daggers and accusations, followed by counter accusations floating around, audience was having much more fun without even watching the film.
Result? Just like Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, even Department turned out to be a source of entertainment for people but for all the wrong reasons. No one saw the film but everyone definitely had an opinion around it. Easily the worst case scenario for any filmmaker whose film is criticised without even being watched, Ram Gopal Varma laughed it all away and took to social networking sites for respite. While that was good fodder for the netizens, inside the theaters there was hardly any occupancy.
With the first week collections ending at Rs. 11.5 crore and hardly any shows in the running in the second week, it is now clear that Department has turned out to be a mother of all box-office disasters. In the process it has not just surpassed Tezz to be a bigger debacle but joined the likes of Drona, Aladin and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (incidentally all of them starring a Bachchan) when it comes to cost of the making v/s losses suffered.
On the other hand Mr. Bhatti On Chutti died a silent death with neither theatres bothering to give it a respectable run nor anyone associated with it shedding any tears. A delayed film that has added on to disasters of 2012, it may find it difficult to even procure a DVD release for itself.