It’s a final wrap for Bollywood’s scene this year. Rajiv Vijayakar looks back at 2011,only to conclude that it has been quite a good year for Hindi cinema.
With Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture as the year’s latest bonanza, 2011 has been quite a good year for Hindi cinema. If 2008 (Ghajini) and 2009 (3 Idiots) saw a film each that did business over a Rs 100 crore, and 2010 saw Dabangg and Golmaal 3, this year, there were four films that crossed that new magical benchmark — Ready, Singham and Bodyguard, followed by RA.One.
From top to bottom
The flipside was that while all the above-mentioned films costed a maximum of Rs 50 crore to make and market, movies like RA.One made money only for producer Shah Rukh Khan and the co-producers and co-distributors, Eros. However, the total loss for most of the distributors came to over Rs 30 crore, mainly due to the exorbitant pricing. When such is the case, a film is officially a flop, especially when the ord-of-mouth is negative. The pricing factor also became a bane for Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s Force and Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar.
Without doubt, the biggest casualties of the year were, according to different trade sources, either Mausam or Rascals. Patiala House, Game, Thank You, Aarakshan and 7 Khoon Maaf were the other big losers.
Huge box-office revenues are possible now, thanks to advertising within films, multiple rights and a rapidly broadening cinematic base that include overseas destinations and inflated ticket rates at multiplexes. The only sensible criterion remains the cost-to-profit ratio that is calculated on the basis of expenditure and revenue.
By that criterion, the biggest hit of the year is likely to be Milan Luthria’s pathbreaking universal hit, The Dirty Picture (TDP), which still appears to be going strong. Cutting across all audience demographics and barriers, and pleasing critics as well, this sex-laden film made a clean sweep of the accolades as well as the moolah. Whether TDP makes the Rs 100-crore grade remains to be seen, but without doubt, it will emerge as the biggest film of the year as far as ‘return of investment’ is concerned. The trade website, boxofficekings.com, reveals that as of now, Mohit Suri’s Murder 2 is leading the roster, followed by the Deols’ Yamla Pagla Deewana, Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D, Balaji Telefilms’ erotic-horror film Ragini MMS, and Rajkumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica.
Other films that did brisk business among the modestly budgeted films were Mere Brother Ki Dulhan from the Yash Raj Films’ stable, Aamir Khan’s Delhi Belly and Dhobi Ghat as well as Aanand Rai’s Tanu Weds Manu. Making modest profits for their respective and varied production costs were Chalo Dilli, Chillar Party, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, F.A.L.T.U., Pyar Ka Punch-Nama Read more
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