Thursday 30 April 2015 11.30 IST
Box Office India Trade Network
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A very important period for the industry will start with Gabbar which releases on Friday with a major release practically every week till the first real big film of the year Bajrangi Bhaijaan with Salman Khan. That film will obviously take a huge start but it is probably more important for the industry as a whole that some of these 8-9 films coming before Bajrangi Bhaijaan work.
If they don't basically it becomes a Khan industry as the last two films where the audience turned up were Shahrukh and Aamir Khan starrers Happy New Year and PK respectively.
The industry has been through bad patches before but it has mainly been external factors like video, piracy, bad quality cinema halls and growing tax rates stiffling growth but this downturn seems different as the content looks the problem. There has been no grosser in sight in the first four months with no film even coming close to the 100 crore nett mark which itself is not a benchmark today. There have been a few plus films but on budget constraints and in a couple the makers would be in plus but that is because the main actors are on profit sharing but that profit share is nowhere near covering their market price. So in a way there are losers even with the plus films of the first four months.
Gabbar, Piku, Kuch Kuch Locha Hai, Bombay Velvet, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Dil Dhadakne Do, Hamari Adhuri Kahani, ABCD 2 and remake of 1983 Blockbuster Hero are the main films before Bajrangi Bhaijaan and if they dont find an audience things will go from bad to worse. Most of these films have released their theatricals and none have the sort of response that assures a grosser and a few are very costly films.
So when the response is not universal you have to look at films which can really find a big audience regionally and are not big budget and Tanu Weds Manu Returns (North India) and ABCD 2 (Maharashtra and South) fall into that category. These two films can score due to their medium budgets and big support from important regions but a real plus would be if one the bigger films Gabbar, Bombay Velvet or Dil Dhadakne Do goes near or to the 150 crore mark. Its looking tough from the response to theatricals but content can always surprise.
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