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Bollywood’s golden year
Bollywood never had it so good. The year gone by has catapulted Mumbai's Hindi film world into the big league, with the number of super hits far exceeding the flops. Films of all sizes and budgets as well as film stars tasted sweet success. Verily, it’s raining money and that too in hundreds of crores!
In 2006, the Hindi film industry held center stage on all media channels despite the nation's political events, terrorist activities and the swelling Sensex. The success started with Rang de Basanti, which also happened to be India's entry into the Oscars’ foreign language category. The revenue it garnered is quoted as around Rs110 crores. With director Rakyesh Mehra’s impressive work, the film led to an awakening of sorts among the youth by confidently shifting from cynicism to rebirth of idealism, weaving its content through the past to the present and paving a way towards a better future.
Then came another good movie of our cynical times, Lage Raho Munnabhai wherein Raju Hirani resurrected Gandhi’s ideology, a stark and welcome contrast to the portrayal of corrupt and selfish political leaders of present times. Perhaps the most wonderful thing about the film was its reawakening of the legend that was Mahatma Gandhi — his ideals and modus operandi towards the achievement of success and peace. Besides attempting to revive ‘Gandhigiri’ among its young viewers, the film also grossed a colossal Rs140 crores for the producer. The cash bells have still not stopped ringing.
A surprise success of the year perhaps was Omakara. No one, not even the film producers expected their venture to succeed so well, grossing around Rs60 crores. Director Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello seems to have brought a whole new story to life, centered in the lawless land of Uttar Pradesh where dacoits and thugs reign. The film not only re-established the credibility of Vishal at good filmmaking but also substantiated Saif Ali Khan as an actor of impressive reckoning, bringing home a number of accolades for his role of Langda Tyagi.
Perhaps the most wonderful thing about ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ was its reawakening of the legend that was Mahatma Gandhi. Besides attempting to revive ‘Gandhigiri’ among its young viewers, the film also grossed a colossal Rs140 crores for the producer. The cash bells have still not stopped ringing
The hitherto taboo subject of extra marital affairs was broached rather explicitly in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (KANK). Estimated to have grossed Rs120 crores — most of it in overseas markets — Johar once again came up with the trump card, though the credit in significant parts goes to actor Shah Rukh Khan as well for casting his magic spell. With KANK, Khan established that in the category of displaying suppressed emotions without becoming vulgar, he still remains the king. And after making provisions for the hefty amounts of criticism that the film received on its content and theme, if anything, KANK certainly did open up Bollywood’s doors to the spread of Asian communities all over the world.Kajol’s rebirth in Yash Chopra's Fanaa too received tremendous response from global viewers, establishing once and for all that the talented brown-eyed lass is still adored by millions around the world. Kajol’s Zunni, a blind girl, helped Fanaa gross Rs120 crores for the house of Yash Chopra.
But the greatest success story for the year was perhaps Hritik Roshan, with both his releases — Krrish and Dhoom-2 — grossing Rs150 crores and Rs170 crores respectively by the end of the year ’06 and still counting. Golden boy Hritik has finally put a clamp on all those wagging tongues that claimed his success depends only upon working in his father, Rakesh Roshan’s films. The two films have been paving way for bigger deals for the actor, helping him raise his own value to unprecedented highs.
A disappointment for the year came about when Farhan Akhtar and Shah Rukh Khan's Don didn't do as well as expected, bringing in Rs50 crores, a comparative low. Perhaps the film was unnecessary comparison with the ‘80s Don starring Amitabh Bachchan. Herein lies a lesson for filmmakers: perhaps if the film had been released on its own, it would have seen better days as the story line, action sequences and shooting locales are exceptional.But these are just the biggies. Even the smaller films with relatively unique story lines like Dor, Phir Hera Pheri, Pyar Ke Side Effects and Khosla Ka Ghosla had unexpectedly successful runs, endorsing a newfound maturity in Indian audiences.
The year also saw many new changes arising in the industry, with multiplexes mushrooming all over the country along with domestic ticket prices reaching new highs. The overseas collections of all films increased, with the film industry grossing more than Rs2,500 crores — a whopping jump of 35 to 40 per cent from previous years. The year also saw a newfound improvement and synergy in film distribution.
And along with films and their producers, certain actors also tasted success like never before. Besides Saif Ali Khan, Arshad Warsi was a super hit in Lage Raho Munnabhai without whose comic timings, the film may not have fared so well. So was Ayesha Takia in the film Dor, looking fresh and acting equally well, making the industry folk sit up and take notice of her. Besides, Konkona Sen Sharma’s off beat role like that in 15 Park Avenue and Sharman Joshi in Rang De Basanti were hugely appreciated for their efforts, garnering a significant fan following.All in all a hugely successful year for the Hindi film industry, 2006 also drove home a number of significant facts for filmmakers to be careful about: there is a need to keep the target audience in mind while making and promoting a film. Mere pre-release buzzes don’t help much; it is the entire package that matters, including the storyline, characters, content as well as marketing and production. Here’s looking forward to another happening year of Hindi cinema.
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