For a while it seemed unlikely, if not altogether impossible, that Boney Kapoor's riotous multi-starrer No Entry would be released on schedule this Friday.

"Yes, it seems No Entry might not be released on Friday after all," said Boney guardedly on Tuesday afternnoon, not willing to give away too much information lest there's a collective panic among distributors all over the country.

Boney's debts amounting to a multiple crore of rupees was responsible for the predicament. Earlier too Boney's clamouring creditors had warned against legally stopping Boney's releases. This time they seemed to have succeeded in finally making the financially challenged producer realize and face up to his precarious predicament.

The postponement of a big multi-starrer which could bail Boney out of his present day financial fiasco would've augured unfavourably for the harassed producer. The loss of a precious Friday meant Boney's distributors and exhibitors would have to book theatres all over again.

With Hriday Shetty's romantic comedy Pyar Mein Twist and Sanjay Daima's cultural comedy Ramji Londonwaley already booked for next Friday ( 2 September) No Entry would have had a serious difficulty getting back into the release queue.

But Boney was able to get No Entry entangled from his terrifying financial snarl.

This week Boney Kapoor goes raunchy. Three guys singing horny-I-shrunk-the-quips isn't quite what you'd expect from Bollywood screen-queen Sridevi's husband…not after Bewafaa earlier this year which was designed as a wholesome ladies' picture.

What made Boney take to doing a veritable stag party with his brother Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Fardeen Khan doing a pssst-pssst boys-will-be-boys stag-party ?

Desperate situations call for desperate measures. And Boney's financial condition—in the words of a close friend-- is"critical". Apparenty the producer owes crores of rupees to the market for his unbroken string of flops, from Raj Santoshi's Pukar in 1999 to Dharamesh Darshan's super-thud Bewafaa in 2005.

Everyone in the film industry knows, producer Boney Kapoor is on the verge of bankruptcy. At this juncture he needs a hit, more desperately than Ekta Kapoor who made the cheesy Kya Kool Hain Hum to prove a point: that she can be a successful movie producer.

"For Boney a successful film is a matter of survival," says someone who has been closely associated with him. "He seems to lack complete sense of what works at the boxoffice. It would be a while before he can get back on his feet…if at all. But yes, if No Entry clicks he can at least feel some of the financial pressures get off his back."

No Entry looks like a blend of Indra Kumar's Masti and Kya Kool… without Riteish Deshmukh of course. But a lot of oomph and nudge-nudge-wink-wink humour.

Leading man Anil Kapoor, the producer Boney Kapoor and director Anees Bazmi protest violently to the view that No Entry (doesn't the title say it all?) is sleazy. "There isn't a single double meaning dialogue in No Entry. I'd never be associated with something like that."

Sure, Anil. We believe you. Er….didn't you take part in the musical twin towers of obscenity `Khadaa hai khadaa hai` and `Mainhoon maal gadi mujhe dhakka lagaa` in David Dhawan's Andaz?

Even David is making vegeterian comedies now. Besides a towel marked significantly enough 'NO ENTRY' in Sohail Khan's butt region David's Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya has nothing to make the average audience squirm.

Besides writer turned director Anees Bazmi has never been associated with sleaze. From the time he made Hulchal,Goonda Raj and Pyar To Hona Hi Tha Bazmi has steered off vulgarity. But would the audiences be willing to accept a film about male bonking …er, bonding without sex and sleaze? No Entry could end up as a neither here nor there prospect pleasing neither the titillation- seekers nor the family audiences.

The client for Subhash Ghai's production of Iqbal which also releases this week is far more sharply defined. Its theme about a physically challenged boy's determination to make it into the Indian national cricket team echoes the triumph-of-the-human-spirit theme so dear to neo-classics like Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black.

Will the film featuring young Shreyas Talpade as a village-boy courting the arc-lights, get the kind of audience it deserves? Director Nagesh Kukunoor has the reputation of telling it like it is, and delivering niche successes, like Hyderbad Blues and 3 Deewarein. True his Blues sequel got bruised. But Kukunor is as resilient as his protagonist in the film.

Iqbal will be an acid test for both producer Ghai (whose last venture Kisna kissed the dust) and Kukunoor. Hopefully, the cricket theme from Lagaan and the theme of overcoming physical handicaps from Black will mingle in an audience-friendly synsthesis.

This week's third release is again an experiment in form and content. Ashok Kaul's Bhagmati recreates the legendary love story of Hyderabad's Nawab Quli Qutub Shah and the beautiful commoner Bhagmati. Kaul blends both animation figures and live footage featuring Milind Soman and Tabu in the two principal roles. It's a uniquely formated feature film and one that needs enormous niche- nurturing to make it to the right eyeballs out there.

Fortunately, Kaul and his producer Zee Telefilms aren't over-selling this quaint love story to the public. The brilliant Tabu who's been undergoing a dark patch in spite of stupendous performances in Maqbool and Silsilay needs to get back on her feet. Her pairing with Milind Soman (the two were linked in real life as well) came a cropper in the whodunit Tarkeeb which had launched the model hero's film career.

Can't see a clamour of audiences to watch Tabu recreate a mythic magic with Milind. Like Iqbal, Bhagmati needs to find its audience …and fast. Films today cannot afford to start tamely at the turnstiles. They have to prove themselves immediately to beable to survive for a second Friday.

No Entry will have a definite edge at the box-office this week. But Iqbal and Bhagmati would certainly generate the curiosity of a discerning audience.

All three films have huge production houses backing them. Let's see who laughs all the way to the bank—Boney Kapoor, Subhash Ghai or Zee Telefilms.

The views expressed in the article are the author's and not of Sify.com.