Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff push 2020 box office haul to Rs 780 crores, Bollywood pins hope on a bountiful 2021

Along with capacity expansion, content will be key in reviving the COVID-19 pandemic-hit cinema business.

2019 was a record year for Bollywood as a phenomenal 4400 crores had come in from just the release of Hindi films. Considering the fact that 2018 had netted Rs 3,600 crores, which was a record as well, it seemed like 'achche din' were here for Bollywood at the box office. It didn't seem like a farfetched dream that 2020 could well touch an all time high for Rs 5,000 crores, considering the manner in which trajectory was going up for footfalls in theatres and there was a slew of big budget films lined up as well week after week.

However, no one could have accounted for pandemic striking in such a big way that the mightiest of plans came to naught. Theatres started shutting down post the release of Baaghi 3 (which had an aborted run in its second week) and Angrezi Medium (which couldn't go beyond the weekend). Later, even when cinemas opened their shutters again from October onwards, there were no new releases to boast of and subsequently when Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari and Indoo Ki Jawani arrived too, there were just no takers whatsoever.

Result? As 2020 comes to a close, the Bollywood box office report card reads a mere Rs 780 crores. This is from 20 notable films that have released, out of which only five have done good to decent business. These are Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Baaghi 3, Street Dancer 3D, Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan and Malang.

Amongst these five films, there were actually only two films that did really good business - Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and Baaghi 3.

An Ajay Devgn starrer, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior rose from just about a good start of Rs 15.10 crores to eventually conclude at Rs 280 crores. Fortunately for the film (and of course the audiences), it was the first major release of the year and collected its moolah till mid-February, by which time the dreaded COVID word started making its presence felt. However, with a blockbuster tag to its name, the Om Raut directed film had already done its job and later went on to find wonderful traction on the OTT and satellite mediums as well.

Baaghi 3 boasts of the biggest opening of the year as it netted Rs 17.50 crores on Friday. Its real value is actually much more as by the time it arrived on March 6, the global pandemic had been declared as a reality. A good segment of audiences feared stepping out and even in such circumstances, the Tiger Shroff starrer managed to net Rs 95 crores before coming to a pre-mature end after just 10 days. For producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Ahmed Khan, it was heartbreaking to see their big budget action entertainer not quite cover the eventual distance.

Meanwhile, Varun Dhawan is already seeing the OTT release of his much hyped Coolie No. 1 though he has already delivered a fair grosser in the form of Street Dancer 3D earlier this year. Of course, one expected the Remo D'Souza directed dance entertainer to go the ABCD 2 way by hitting a century. While that didn't happen and the film fell short to end its run at Rs 75 crores, in today's circumstances even that looks like a mighty good haul as one waits to see which is the next Bollywood release that would manage to cover even this kind of distance.

Ditto for Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan which was seen as an 'underperformer' back in time when it closed at Rs 60.78 crores. However, given the kind of theme that it boasted of (love story of a gay couple) and the fact that such kind of subjects are still taboo for Indian audiences, the Aanand L Rai production did fair enough. Of course, considering the kind of dream run that Ayushmann Khurranna had been having after a hat-trick of Rs 100 Crore Club hits [Badhaai Ho, Dream Girl, Bala], one expected him to make it four in a row.

The surprise of the season though was Malang where one had expected half of what it eventually scored at the box office [Rs 58.99 crores]. Despite being a Mohit Suri musical, somehow neither was the film hyped to the fullest nor the songs, which were quite good. The Aditya Roy Kapur-Disha Patani love story with Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu in solid roles found good word of mouth coming its way and eventually ended up doing nine times the business of its opening day of Rs 6.71 crores, something which isn't quite seen often.

Nonetheless, had it not been for these five films, 2020 may have been all the more disappointing than what it has turned out to be. Though one can't expect 2021 business to be anywhere close to what it had been for the last few years, one just hopes that there is some sort of resurgence seen, especially after the arrival of vaccine, and there are happy days back again.