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Nine big-starrers joining the 100-crore club, unusual-themed small-budget movies turning into miraculous hits and almost no major setbacks among about 150 releases: Bollywood’s 2012 box office report card has set a benchmark, say trade pundits.
They contend that with a reportedly Rs.2,273-crore profit, it has been a “balanced” year for the Hindi film industry, which can now look forward to more fireworks and a Rs.200-crore club in the next two years.
Summing up 2012 as “a balanced year”, Vinod Mirani told IANS, “Be it small budget films or big films or unusual genres – all of them worked well at the box office. This year was better than the last few years because all kinds of films worked, which is a very positive sign.”
In the first half, a bouquet of small-budget non-commercial films with unusual themes like Kahaani, the woman-centric thriller, Vicky Donor on sperm donation, and Ishaqzaade, rowdy romantic actioner, did exceptionally well by earning Rs.60 crore, Rs.40 crore and Rs.45 crore respectively. Biggies like Agneepath, Housefull 2 and Rowdy Rathore too yielded gold at the box office by joining the Rs.100-crore club.
Three Khans – Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir – rule the roost and the second half was dominated by them. Their releases Ek Tha Tiger, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Talaash respectively became pots of gold. So did Saif Ali Khan-starrer Cocktail.
Distributor Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combine told IANS, “The second half of 2012 was pretty good. “The Khans’ films have done pretty well. Ek Tha Tiger collected around Rs.198 core, which is outstanding.”
Nine films – Agneepath, Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Ek Tha Tiger, Barfi!, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Son Of Sardaar, Dabangg 2 and Bol Bachchan– joined Rs.100 crore at the domestic box office.
Aamir’s Talaash has so far managed to amass around Rs.93 crore so far in the India territory.
Revealing the ballpark figure of the biggies, Thadani said that Agneepath collected Rs.123.05 crore, Housefull 2 Rs.114 crore, and Rowdy Rathore Rs.131 crore.
According to distributor Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts, the estimated earning of Ek Tha Tiger was around Rs.190 crore, of Son Of Sardaar Rs.105 crore, of Jab Tak Hai Jaan Rs. 121 crore, of Barfi! Rs.110 crore and of Bol Bachchan Rs.105 crore.
At the year-end, Salman Khan once again entertained with Dabangg 2, which has set the cash registers ringing by amassing 127.65 cr till date.
An industry source told IANS that total profit in 2012 comes to Rs.2,273 crore.
Nor were there too many box office disasters.
“Besides two films – Players and Joker – none of the films can be put into the disaster zone. These are the only two films which did very poor business,” Ghai told IANS.
Ghai predicted that 2013 “will get crazy and now we have to see how we control this”.
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