MUMBAI: Mid-year is the perfect time to assess the year’s failures and successes. Most businesses do it, and Bollywood as an industry too has seen a fair share of hits and misses in the first half of 2013. As compared to 2012, the year 2013 has been quite smooth-sailing, and the second half of the year holds even more promise…
So far, 2013’s box office story has been exceedingly heartening. Big budget, big ticket films have been ruling the show at the ticketing windows, but smaller films too have managed to make a mark. For instance, even a ‘Kai Po Che’ starring newcomers and made on modest budget managed to taste big success at the box office.
The first six months of 2013 saw the following blockbuster films:
‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’– directed by Ayan Mukherjee, produced by Karan Johar and starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, was the glittering performer this year. The blockbuster film raked in close to Rs 1.8 billion (Rs 180 crore) net over its successful stint at the Indian box office.
‘Race 2’– The sequel to the already super hit ‘Race’, ‘Race 2’ directed by Abbas-Mustan was another certified blockbuster this year. The film, starring Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and Jacqueline Fernandes, saw lifetime box office collections of about Rs 950 million (Rs 95 crore) net (domestic).
‘Special 26’– This Akshay Kumar-Anupam Kher starrer stood out for its unique story line and fascinating execution. Based on real-life incidents of the 1980’s, where a group of conmen posed as income tax officers and stole lakhs worth of jewelry from Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, ‘Special 26’ stood out for its incredible performances by Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpayee. The film did an overall business of about Rs 650 million (Rs 65 crore) net.
‘Raanjhanaa’– ‘Raanjhanaa’ was a love story based in Benaras, which starrer Sonam Kapoor and South superstar Dhanush in leading roles. The film managed to charm audiences, and rake in approximately Rs 600 million (Rs 60 crore) net since its release.
‘Kai Po Che’– based on the novel ‘The Three Mistakes of My Life’ by Chetan Bhagat, found favour with audiences, by raking in approximately Rs 450 million (Rs 45 crore) net during its run at the ticket windows. The film starred rank newcomers Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Rajkumar Yadav, so this was an even more impressive feat.
Other notable hits of the first half of 2013 included ‘Aashiqui 2’ and ‘Any Body Can Dance’.
In comparison, the first six months of 2012 was a bumper year with films like ‘Rowdy Rathore’ (Rs 133 crore), ‘Agneepath’ (Rs 120 crore), Housefull 2 (Rs 113 crore). Even smaller budget films like Kahaani and Vicky Donor made their mark.
The second half of 2013 looks to pose stiff competition to the films of latter half of 2012, with biggies like ‘Chennai Express’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobara’, ‘Madras Cafe’, ‘Satyagraha’, ‘Zanjeer’, ‘Ungli’, ‘Besharam’, ‘Krrish 3’, ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’, ‘Rambo Rajkumar’, ‘Bullet Raja’, ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, ‘Highway’ and ‘Dhoom 3’ already lined up to storm the box office.
Films like ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ which released in July 2013, are already winning at the box office.
