Bollywood seems to have been in a deep sleep for the first five months of the year. In spite of having decent films in the first quarter, no film has been able to make a remarkable business or touch the golden 100 crore figure. The only time, the Indian box office rattled was when Hollywood’s franchise film Fast And The Furious 7 hit theaters and made it to the 100 crore mark in India. Unfortunately, in spite of receiving a lot of praises from the audiences, Akshay Kumar’s Baby which seemed like the biggie of the first quarter, fell short of a few crores as it wrapped up with a lifetime business of 94 crores at the domestic box office.
A still from movies ‘Gabbar Is Back’, ‘Bombay Velvet’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’
It is quite clear that the first half of the year has been quite disappointing compared to 2014 which had two films making it to the 100 crores in its first five months itself, namely Jai Ho and 2 States. While Akshay Kumar is a big star and having two releases in the first half, both of them could not become money spinners. Gabbar Is Back started off strong but with the weekly business dropping, it does not seem like the film will breach 100 crores.
Looks like the mantle of making the Bollywood business boom lies on the upcoming movies now. As Ranbir Kapoor starrer Bombay Velvet releases this week, there are high expectations from the film considering it has managed to create a good hype. We can expect the film to open big and enjoy a good weekend but for it to make it to the 100 crore club, it will have to appease mass audiences which is difficult for an Anurag Kashyap film considering his niche tastes.
The recent release, Deepika Padukone starrer Piku enjoyed a good first weekend and the film has strongly thanks to its content. It has survived on a good positive word of mouth but will certainly not be a great business venture.
Basically, it boils down to one thing, no Khan film yet and so no 100 crore business. It may happen that we will have to wait for Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaaijaan to hit the theaters in July, to bounce back for a good business. June has Welcome Back minus Akshay whose predecessor Welcome had stormed the box office and there is Dil Dhadakne Do with a huge star cast. Zoya Akhtar’s last ZNMD had reached 90 crores but it is questionable if Dil Dhadakne Do will do the same.
