Sans 'Raajneeti', its a no-show in first half for Bollywood

While 125 movies were released in the last six months, only Prakash Jha's 'Raajneeti' was declared a blockbuster with a net gross of over Rs 77 crore. Trade analyst Amod Mehra feels 'Raajneeti' worked because of the casting of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in political drama.

"Many people underestimated Ranbir's charisma. It is the youth which matter at the Box Office as an audience. If not for these two, the youngsters would not have gone to see a political film. Besides, the film had an interesting ensemble cast and was mounted well," he said.

Mehra said makers of 'Kites' and 'Raavan' have suffered losses of over Rs 100 crores as these two movies proved to be major disasters, only 'Houseful' and 'Love Sex and Dhoka' have broken even.

"Rest movies were all flops. The industry has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 450 to Rs 500 crores in the first half," he said. He said 'My Name is Khan', 'Ishqiya' and 'Athithee Tum Kab Jaoge' were somewhat appreciated but eventually lost money at the Box Office in totality.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said the distributors have incurred losses of over Rs 200 crore due to the failure of MNIK, 'Ishqiya' and 'Athithee Tum Kab Jaoge'. Apart from 'Raajneeti', MNIK, 'Ishqiya', 'Love Sex aur Dokha', 'Athiti Tum Kab Jaoge', 'Houseful' and 'Badmash Company' have done well at the Box Office, said Adarsh.

Salman Khan's 'Veer', the first film to be released in 2010 had a huge task of living up to the euphoria of Aamir Khan's '3 Idiots' which was creating waves at that time. However, the period drama-cum-love story of a Pindari soldier played by Salman fighting against the British did not find takers among the audience. The film was hyped as the story was written by Salman and the actor even participated in a race at Mahalaxmi race course to promote the film. However, Shah Rukh Khan's MNIK benefited from the massive hype. The superstar's comments that he regretted the absence of Pakistani cricketers in IPL season 3 on the eve of the film's release resulted in Shiv Sena declaring that it would not allow the movie's release.

Khan, who also owns the Kolkata Knightriders IPL cricket team, was abroad promoting the film and he stuck to his guns and refused to apologise to the Thackerays. The entire police machinery was involved in protecting the theatres where the film was screened. The distributors and exhibitors decided to release the film in phases on the first day.

According to website boxofficeindia, MNIK has earned 19 million USD from overseas collections alone. Hrithik Roshan-starrer 'Kites' had its fair share of controversies with Mexican actress Barbara Mori making her Bollywood debut and the alleged affair of the lead pair resulting in the actor's wife Suzzanne leaving their house. Even intimate scenes of Hrithik and Barbara were put up on the internet.

Adarsh said audiences these days look for the right content and are not concerned about any particular genre. Even 'Raavan' got lot of attention because it marked the coming together of Abhishek Bachchan and ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam after delivering two critically acclaimed movies like 'Yuva' and 'Guru' and the added bonus was that the movie also featured Aishwarya Rai and Tamil superstar Vikram.

However, the concept suggesting that there can be a Raavan within Ram and Ram in Raavan did not gel well with the audience. The film was hugely criticised and negative reviews kept the audience away from the theatres. Only the cinematography and fresh locations came in for praise.

The first half might not have been great but Adarsh is hopeful that Bollywood has a lot to look forward too in the second half of 2010. July releases 'I hate Luv Stories', 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' and 'Khatta Meetha' look promising. Anil Kapoor's Sonam-Abhay Deol starrer 'Aisha' is slated for an August release. With the success of 'Housefull' under his belt, Akshay Kumar will have maximum releases in the later half of the year like 'Tees Maar Khan', 'Action Replayy', 'Patiala House' and 'Khatta Meetha'.