Leading ladies: Raazi 3rd female-centric film to enter Rs 100cr club. A look at other such successful ventures

The leading ladies of Bollywood have been on the forefront at the box office this year with two female-centric films emerging as big money spinners.

Releasing in January this year was Deepika Padukone-starrer Padmaavat that saw light of the day in 2018 after many delays. The film did not fail to attract a large number of movie-goers and get cash registers ringing despite being marred in controversies. The period drama went on to become the highest grossing film of 2018.

Then came along an unexpected big success of Raazi starring Alia Bhatt that made its way into the Rs 100 crore club within three weeks of its release. The film hit the theatres on May 11 and since then, the realistic drama has been playing in cinemas uninterrupted, not letting any new release affect its business. Raazi did face competition from two films — 102 Not Out and Hollywood release Deadpool 2  — but both films did not have any impact on Raazi’s business.

Not only has Raazi minted Rs 104 crore with a budget of Rs 30 crore, the film is also the third women-centric film to enter the coveted Rs 100 crore club.

Female-driven stories tasting box office success is not a common case. This genre is slowly making its way into the audience’s heart and studios are also tapping this potential market.

In 2017, there were around 12 women-oriented films and many of them gave strong returns on investments. The list includes films like Naam Shabana that had raked in Rs 50 crore with a budget of Rs 33 crore, Vidya Balan's Tumhari Sulu that minted Rs 42.36 crore, Secret Superstar starring Zaira Wasim of Dangal fame that clocked Rs 81 crore in India.

Another film that did strong business was Lipstick Under My Burkha despite strong opposition from Censor Board for its content. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had refused to clear the movie, saying the story is 'lady-oriented’ and their fantasy 'above life’.

Playing in limited theatres with screen count of 400, the film collected Rs 1.22 crore on opening day. Due to the film’s small budget of Rs 4.5 crore, the film did decent business as compared to its peers, despite low earnings on day one. However, it took Lipstick Under My Burkha only 24 hours to double its earnings and the film grossed Rs 2.17 crore on day two.

Although 2016 and 2017 were an indicator of change for women in the film business, many movies from this genre over the years have scored high in terms of business.

Topping the charts in Kangana Ranuat-starrer Tanu Weds Manu Returns that made close to Rs 150 crore with a budget of Rs 39 crore. The film also stands second in the list of women-centric films entering Rs 100 crore club, with Padmaavat taking the lead.

Coming a distant second is Vidya Balan’s The Dirty Picture with earnings of Rs 80 crore. It was Balan who had changed the scenario for women-centric films with regards to box office success. This 2011 release was made at a budget of Rs 31 crore.

Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja takes the third place on the list with collections standing approximately at Rs 71.76 crore. Around Rs 28 crore was invested in the making of the film.

Dear Zindagi starring Alia Bhatt, Kangana Ranaut’s Queen and Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom stand at the fourth, fifth and sixth position with earnings of Rs 68.16 crore, Rs 61 crore and Rs 56.5 crore respectively.

And the list ends with 2011 suspense film Kahaani starring Vidya Balan that made around Rs 57.81 crore.

These successful ventures show that Bollywood’s female stars are delivering biggest hits in India’s prolific movie industry and even the filmmakers are making way to bring more such films to the big screen.