Tasmayee Laha Roy Moneycontrol News
From women wrestlers and sanitary towels to even vibrators — Bollywood has embraced all sorts of taboo with grace and changed the way people see popular Indian cinema. What hasn’t changed about the industry, though, is the box office hunger and need for more. Thanks to content-driven films made in Bollywood this year, 2018 has been a year of profits.
The Hindi film industry, according to film trade analyst Girish Johar, has had a net box office collection of almost Rs 3,800 crore in 2018. “We have seen a rise between 10 percent and 15 percent in the net box office collection of 2018 against that in 2017. It has been a record year for Bollywood in more ways than one,” said Johar.
While the number of films made in the year gone by remained consistent at 250, which is the average number of films made in Bollywood annually, the number of profitable films went up by at least 20 percent.
Even without the three top guns of the Hindi film industry — Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan — not performing well at the box office, Bollywood this year saw 13 entrants to the coveted Rs 100-crore club.
The 13 Rs 100-crore club films in 2018 include the likes of Padmaavat, Raazi, Baaghi 2, Sanju, Sonu ki Titu Ki Sweety, Race 3. Even with Baahubali 2, 2017 saw only eight entrants to the Rs 100-crore club that included Tiger Zinda Hai, Tubelight, Jab Harry Met Sejal, Toilet-Ek Prem Katha, Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya, Kaabil and Raees.
Bollywood has never seen 13 Rs 100-crore movies in a year. If we consider Avengers dubbed in Hindi, the number goes up to 14. While two of the films in the list are from the Khans, Rs 100 crore is not the benchmark for them. If their film did better business, net collections at the box office would go further up.
The only safe thing in film-making is taking a chance and Bollywood did not shy away from experimenting. “The audience today is both intelligent and ruthless. They do not want to pay a single penny to watch something mediocre. They are not ready to pay for average movies even if they have big names involved. Content-heavy films have made the best of this at the box office in 2018,” added Johar.
Experts unanimously came up with the top five films that worked best at the box office — Stree, Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho, Sanju and Raazi.
Albeit, an overall cost versus revenue analysis would bring down the average returns on investment in Bollywood down due to failure of heavy-budget films like Thugs of Hindostan, 2.0 and Race 3. However, an individual study of films would give a better perspective to judge returns. Luv Ranjan’s Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, for instance, was made on a budget of Rs 30 crore and made close to Rs 150 crore at the box office. Then there was Raazi, made on a budget of Rs 40 crore, that made close to Rs 194 crore. Baaghi 2, Stree, Andhadhun and even Sanju have similar tales to tell.
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