2012 turns out to be a jolly good year for Bollywood

The ~100-cr club expands to eight films, from five in 2011 and two in 2010
GAURAV LAGHATE
Mumbai, 10 December

THE WIDE SCREEN

2012 ~100-cr club
Movie Collection (~ cr)

For the Hindi film industry, 2012 has by far been the best year, with eight films exceeding ~100 crore in net collections on the domestic box-office. This could be seen as a remarkable feat, especially because only 17 films have managed to net more than ~100 crore in the history of Bollywood. Five movies had made it to the club in 2012 and two the year before that. The big eight this year Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Son of Sardar, Ek Tha Tiger, Rowdy Rathore, Barfi, Bol Bachchan, Housefull 2 and Agneepath have already crossed the ~100-crore mark, while trade experts believe Salman Khans upcoming Dabangg 2, too, will make it to the club. Viacom18 Motion Pictures Chief Operating Officer Vikram Malhotra says: The year has been a tremendous one for the industry and its not only because of the box-office numbers. The fact that more people are watching films in theatres and that they are even returning after three-four weeks is a happy pointer to the future. It gives us a positive outlook for the next five years. Another heartening trend is to see audiences accepting multiple genres. Conventional films like Ek Tha Tiger and Son of Sardar are doing good business, and so are the nonconventional ones like Kahaani, Oh My God! and Gangs of Wasseypur. Interestingly, this was also a year when Bollywoods three most popular Khans Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir made their presence

Ek Tha Tiger 184.18 Rowdy Rathore 133.07 Agneepath 122.61 Jab Tak Hai Jaan 120.85 Housefull 2 109.10 Barfi 106.14 Son Of Sardar 105.03 Bol Bachchan 100.35

Also expected

DABANGG 2
(releasing on December 21)

2012 ~50 cr to ~100 cr

Movie Collection (~cr)

Oh My God! Cocktail Raaz 3 Talaash Student of the Year Kahaani

Movie

81.44 73.94 71.16 64.46 67.39 53.71

2011 ~100-cr club

Collection (~cr)

Bodyguard Ready Don 2 Ra.One Singham

Source: Boxoffice India

148.01 115.02 110.79 107.11 100.47

felt on the box-office. Besides, there also were small-budget, high-concept films, such as Kahaani, Raaz 3, Oh My God! and Ishaqzaade, that raked in the moolah. Disney UTV Studios MD Siddharth Roy Kapoor says: Now people are paying money to watch the films traditionally considered non-commercial. Success of films like Barfi, Vicky Donor, etc, shows a healthy trend is emerging. Senior film critic Vinod Mirani, however, does not see much in the trend. He says collecting ~100 crore does not mean commercial success for a film. With the number of screens (multiplexes) and ticket prices

increasing, many films can cross that mark. Today, despite earning more than ~100 crore, some films actually end up losing money, because of the high cost of production, distribution, and marketing involved. So far as multiplexes are concerned, the year has been phenomenal. PVR President and Group CEO Pramod Arora says: This year has been what the industry has never seen before. The kind of footfalls and operators Ebitda margins have certainly been unheard of. We are looking forward to this continuing, but it will also depend on the content. This year, there were different genres, with all with top actors.