Women Power in 2012 Box Office : Kareena Kapoor ‘s Heroine, Vidya Balan’s Kahaani and Sunny Leones’ Jism 2
2012 has been a year of women for Bollywood. The leading ladies bagged it all, riveting performances to the best plots to the most successful films. The female protagonist and strong female characters on the lead overpowered and overshadowed Bollywood this year. It not only opened up an interesting path for more women centric films to be made but also Bollywood has come out of its hero worshipping. Heroines are the new heroes of 2012.
| (Amount in Crores Indian BO) | Kareena Kapoor (Heroine) |
Jism 2 (Sunny Leone) |
Kahaani (Vidya Balan) |
Dangerous Ishhq (Karisma Kapoor) |
| Opening Day | 7.20 | 7.50 | 2.07 | 1.01 |
| Opening Weekend | 25 | 20 | 13.05 | 3.08 |
| Week 1 | 36* (estimated) | 27.50 | 23 | 6 |
| Lifetime | 42*(estimated) | 33.50 | 59.26 | 6.05 |
Heroine
Kareena Kapoor hot in Heroine Movie Stills
Kareena Kapoor was the ultimate driving force of the film. Madhur Bhandarkar known for creating honest cinema didn’t exactly create a wonder cinema this time. Heroine received mixed reviews from critics. Bhandarkar’s direction overpowers the film making it very predictable. Kareena’s performance does manage to stand out making her charcter memorable and her role poignant. The female narrative works for this film well garnering the sympathies of the audience for Mahi’s character who pops pills and valiantly fights depression. Kareena has her finger of the pulse of her character and plays it fine. The film was, however, criticized for its mundane screenplay. After opening at a collection of 7.20 crores, the film is estimated to rake up almost 42 crore rupees.
Jism 2
Sunny Leone Hot in Jism 2 Movie Stills
Jism 2 is an erotic thriller that garnered much hype as it was the Bollywood debut of the famous Indo-Candian Porn Star, Sunny Leone. There were mixed reviews on the film. A few critics hailed Sunny Leone’s performance as great and the movie as sexy. While others thought it was a drag bore with a generous dollop of erotica and a failed anti climax. The film opened with a good collection of 7.50 crores on the first day and raked up a lifetime earning of 33.50 crores. The film aroused a great deal of curiosity because of Sunny Leone’s brand name being attached to the film.
Dangerous Ishhq
Karisma Kapoor hot in Dangerous Ishhq Movie Stills
Dangerous Ishhq was a fantasy driven, supernatural film which was the comeback venture of Karisma Kapoor after a nine year long break. Karisma who is known for her brilliant acting skills and delivering masterpieces like Zubeidaa was criticized harshly for this film. Her acting was earnest but the film was a terrible torture. The film could barely manage a collection of 6.05 crores.
Kahaani
Vidya Balan in a still from Kahaani Movie
2012 began stupendously with Vidya Balan’s Kahaani. She had already given a smasing performance in Balaji’s The Dirty Picture. This film was quite in contrast to her previous role. Set in the serene “City of Joy”, Kolkata, the film is essentially a suspense thriller. Vidya played a pregnant lady who lands in Kolkata to search for her missing husband and mysterious circumstances and incidents follow. The film captured the ethnic beauty of the Bengali culture and life of Kolkata. The plot was full of mesmerizing suspense and the plot worked as the USP of the film. The movie raked a huge profit at box office. It opened at 2.07 crores and earned a lifetime amount of 59.26 crores.
Women oriented roles are preferred as Bollywood takes a sharp turn towards realism. Women narrators are better equipped to tell stories with a greater finesse, keeping intact the sensitive value of the film. The dramatic content is always on a high when a woman is a protagonist. Bollywood has always been male dominated with most stories centered on the lives of the heroes. Women characters were created to play a supporting role. They added a tinge of romance. Lately, stories were created keeping in mind the woman as the pivotal character on the role which holds and binds the film together. This change in Bollywood will certainly help in a more sensible characterization, rather than creating a male dominated and chauvinistic beat of cinema.
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I think Vidya Balan is best actress today as she is giving simultaneous 5 hits from last consequent 3 years like paa, ishqiya, no one killed jesica, dirty picture & Kahaani ….she has proved on boxoffice with Dirty Picture with gross profit 128 crore (net domestic 84 crore) while Kahaani has grossed 108 crore (60 crore net) with just 7 crore budget movie..it is the first & best superhit of 2012(in multiple ratio). Few trade analyst called here lady khan…she is on the TIME’s world’s top 100 influential peoples list(she is only one in list from bollywood in 2012)…She has superb acting skills..
Second women power is shridevi….she has shaken boxoffice with(gross 64 crore & net domestic 40 crore) & movie still running on boxoffice window. I think the movie will cover worldwide gross upto 70 crore.
Her comeback was superb…she is natural actress..
Third women power is Sunny Leon…the porn actress proved herself on boxoffice with gross profit 44 crore ( net domestic 33 crore)..She is trying best to learn acting skills..This was best achievement for here
Bipasha Basu with comeback in raaj3 proved herself best…gross profit 83 crore (net domestic 70 crore)
While Kareena failed to prove with heroine as the movie was just average profit…Rani Mukherjee failed with Aiyya
Big news for Vidya’s fans…
She is going to marry with SRK on 22 dec 2012
Yes..I agree Vidya Balan is best actress today…even she is brand ambassador for Indian Film Industry(Bollywood) in overseas…. After Aishwarya she got good hype in overseas market..
When I was in Dubai…the people were mad about Vidya after Kahaani..Kahaani is India’s first movie which has collected huge numbers in overseas market..
And the main thing Vidya dont want to do movies where her role is not important..thats why she rejected to work with Sunny Deol in Ghayal Returns…
With Salman Khan in Kick( which will release in dec 2013).With Amir Khan in PK( Dec 2013)..With Rajanikant in his next release of 2013( First directional debut of his daughter)
We will see her in “Ghanchakkar” with Emran Hashmi( 21 June 2013), “Shaadi Ke Side Effects” with Farhan Akhtar, Kahaani2…recently Karan Johar has signed her for unknown movie(shooting will start in 2014) against Hrithik Roshan, And lots of directors are waiting for her dates like Farah Khan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Pradeep Sarkar(Producer & directors of Parineeta), Rajkumar Hirani( Director of 3 idiots). He keen to cast her against Amir Khan on novel of Chetan Bhagat’s 2 States.
I agree Vidya Balan is best actress of bollywood…she has superb acting skills…I love here
Offcourse Vidya Balan…is mainstream women power in bollywood.
Kareena is good….but heroine is not appreciating like dirty picture…so failed in boxoffice collection.
Shridevi’s comeback with English Vinglish also healed boxoffice.
So according to me, Vidya Balan for dirty picture & kahani…& Shridevi for English Vinglish…proved women power.
bebo i love u and wish you a very nice and happy married
The question is who was MOST effective to create the hype.
SUNNY LEONE was the ONE who created the MAXIMUM hype also with support of the franchisee JISM. The opening figures show that. But later due to ZERO value content collections dropped, but decent collection of 33 + crores.So Sunny Leone was MOST effective, though for erotica. If it was supported by GOOD content then JISM2 wud have crossed Rs 50 crores.
Vidya Balan though with a Dirty Pic in hand was able to create the LEAST hype for the Opening. Figures speak.But being a good actress and support of a SUPER story line , KAHAANI was SUPER HIT.
Coming to HEROINE, it had 2 brands KAREENA and BHANDARKAR. Kareena had the ability to give a opening but Bhandarkar failed at story and direction.
The hype wasn’t effective.
Hi kareena,helo wats up!
Please include Raaz3 also in the list. It was more or less Bipashas movie