It?s been the year of comedy ? and a sports movie ? so far in Bollywood. This is as it waits with bated breath for the release of two big-ticket releases, Sanjay Leela Bhansali?s Saawariya and Farah Khan?s Om Shanti Om, hoping they will light up the box-office.
If 2006 saw a mix of commercial small-budget films like Rang De Basanti, Dhoom 2, Gangster and Being Cyrus, laugh riots, some inexplicably, have done quite well at the BO this year. Think David Dhawan?s Partner, Sajid Khan?s Hey Babyy, Indra Kumar?s Dhamaal, Neeraj Vora?s Phir Hera Pheri and Priyadarshan?s Dhol.
But all multiplex players and distributors insist that Shimit Amin?s Chak De (Yash Raj Films) and Partner were the top grossers. The sports story of a disgraced player pulling off mission impossible ? train a bunch of girls to win the world championship ? tugged at heartstrings like no other. With an understated Shah Rukh Khan shedding his king-garb to get into the skin of the hopeless hockey coach, the film clicked, more thanks to word-of-mouth publicity than any other marketing tool. Backed by some foot-tapping music ? there is little else in the movie by hint of script or plot ? Partner forced movie-goers into theatres.
?This year belonged to the comedy genre,? said Bhumika Tewari, GM, programming, Fun Cinemas. But according to Tewari, this year?s collection so far has still been less by 10-12% compared to last year.
The other players beg to differ, though no one is ready with the numbers yet as the major season is about to begin ? besides Saawariya and OSO, the other big films released by December are Aamir Khan?s Taare Zameen Par, Madhuri Dixit?s comeback film Aaja Nachle, Vivek Agnihotri?s Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Sudhir Mishra?s Khoya Khoya Chand.
?2007 has been a more fruitful year in terms of box office returns,? said Tushar Dhingra, COO, Adlabs, ?and the major season is still to begin?. In the Mumbai circuit alone, according to Fun Cinemas, Chak De grossed at Rs 12 crore while Partner did around Rs 11 crore. Ashish Saksena, CEO, PVR Film Cell, said 2007 has been a better year than 2006. ?We had some very big hits but fewer successful films. This year we may not have big hits like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Krrish and Dhoom 2, but we have had a higher number of hit films, with better results.?
Eros International, which distributed Partner globally, said the film had an opening of more than $10 million worldwide in the first weekend. In UK, Partner was in the Top 10 charts alongside some of the biggest Hollywood releases like The Simpsons Movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Die Hard 4:0.
According to industry estimates, about 3.1 billion tickets are sold in India annually across 13,000 screens. And with multiplexes growing rapidly, thus driving up the average ticket prices, industry sources say a good opening is often enough for the film to make good its return on investment.
According to Devang Sampat, VP, marketing & programming, Cinemax India, collections in 2007 have been better compared to 2006. ?True, there have been no big movies as yet but a lot more movies were released, contributing to bigger collections this year.? With people betting their money on variety, all the players are gearing up for a bigger 2008. Consider this: Even a supposedly small film like Jab We Met, directed by Imtiaz Ali and starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor grossed Rs 10 crore from the domestic market in the opening weekend and Rs 12 crore from the worldwide circuit. ?We are delighted with the response to our first release. We are confident that this film is on its way to becoming a major worldwide success,? said Sandeep Bhargava, CEO, the Indian Film Company, the AIM-listed film investment company.
?Multi-starrers and comedy seem to have clicked with audiences,? said Tewari. ?This trend should continue in 2008 with big banner releases like Drona, Jodha Akbar and ,? she added. The other biggies slated for a 2008 release include Aamir Khan?s Ghajini and Rumi Jaffery?s God Tussi Great Ho. As one industry watcher put it: ?With budgets getting bigger and content more creative, expect a real variety in 2008.?
