Six hits for Bollywood in July

B-Town's smiley July

Six major movies released in the month have all been declared hits

Sneha Mahadevan

The first month of second half of the year has proved lucky for Hindi movies as mostly all of them have set the cash registers singing with the Ajay Devgn cop act in his latest film roaring loud at the box office.
While the first film to start off with this run was Delhi Belly (DB), subsequently several other movies belonging to different genres followed suit. DB was unconventional in every sense and though it was released in both Hindi and English. Industry insiders predicted it would have the kind of collections it would have. While it also means that the audience is evolving and their tastes changing, it also gives new directors a chance to experiment.
While DB worked at the multiplexes, Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap worked at the single screen. According to the trade figures, the month so far has seen investments of around Rs 110 crore and collections over Rs 140 crore from movies excluding the latest — Rohit Shetty's film with Ajay, which has done brisk business at the box office, especially in single screens.
Six major movies released so far, DB, Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap (BHTB), Murder 2, Chillar Party Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) and the Ajay starrer — have all been declared hits.
Murder 2 starring Emtraan Hashmi, made on a budget of 12-14 crore was declared a hit with the film collecting Rs 22.75 crore net approximately on its opening weekend.
DB garnered about Rs 50.52 crore on last count with a budget of Rs 24 crore, while BHTB has grossed about 15 crore, made on a budget of 10 crore, the satellite rights itself being sold for Rs 13.5 crore. The net collection of Ajay's recent release in the first week were Rs 50.20 crore in India itself.
Talking about films faring exceptionally well at the BO, trade analyst Amod Mehra says, "June and July have always been a hit period to release films as far as Bollywood is concerned. School and colleges reopen in June and this is one of the best times to release movies. Also people in general like watching movies in the monsoons.
"This time has been exceptionally good with all films being declared hits. Murder 2, ZNMD and DB worked with the multiplex audience, while Ajay's film was a roaring success at the single screens."
m_sneha@dnaindia.net