Tollywood half-yearly report 2023: The box office hits and misses

One superhit, a couple of hits, two lukewarm releases that had superstars, and a dispiriting string of flops that stretch from January to July. Tollywood box-office numbers for the first six months tell a grim story Till July 6, approximately 31 Bengali films have released, of which 24 can be labeled flops, as they have recovered little of their total costs. Four films that did exceptionally well at the box office are ‘The Eken: RuddhaswasRajasthan’, ‘Chengiz’, ‘Fatafati’ and ‘Ardhangini’. Meanwhile, good films like ‘Kaberi Antardhan’, ‘Aaro Ek Prithibi’, ‘Shesh Pata’ faced the box office heat despite their solid content.

Here’s a quick look at Tollywood’s hits and misses in the first half of the year. Read on…

After the super success of the first film in the franchise last year, the second one yet again managed to tick all the boxes and the result can be clearly seen in the box office numbers. Anirban Chakrabarti as the witty Bengali detective won everyone’s heart, this time in Rajasthan. During a vacation to Jaisalmer with his sidekicks Bapi and Pramatha, detective Ekendra Sen finds himself embroiled in an artifact smuggling case. Eken and Co believe the racket is engineered by powerful insiders who are selling off ancient sculptures to other countries. They meet Shatadru Ghosh, an archaeology professor and Rajyasree Sen, the curator of Jaisalmer Museum who also wants to put an end to the series of crimes.

It’s another rare hit from Tollywood in the first half of 2023. Aritra Mukherjee’s Fatafati has a decent grip on the perils of both fatphobia and skinny-worshipping but manages to distil its size positivity from becoming unrelenting. It’s a clever approach too because the film's message weaves in ideas of body neutrality; instead of telling women how they should feel about their bodies, the film basically says they are much more than their bodily flaws or beauties. It’s a Ritabhari film from the beginning to the end; considering the actor has been vocal about her health struggles and stance on wellness, the screenplay comes across as quite humane and engaging.

Jeet’s big, bad mafia movie opting for a pan-India release simultaneously in Bengali and Hindi was a masterstroke. The crime caper is quite watchable, especially for those who love out-and-out action movies and big fans of Jeet. From the business perspective, ‘Chengiz’ performed exceptionally well for a Tollywood film, more so when you are going for a Pan-Indian audience. Chengiz follows a drug lord’s journey from the seventies to the nineties. As a pan-India release, Chengiz could make the team proud; it’s quite stately in production value and treatment. The action sequences choreographed by Stunt Silva are slick, well-timed and edited quite effortlessly with Jeet excelling in close combat scenes.

Kaushik Ganguly’s relationship drama worked wonders at the box office steering clear of the possibility of falling flat by sheer brilliance in the acting and writing departments. Suman Chatterjee’s (Kaushik Sen) cerebral attack and a subsequent coma state bring his wife Meghna (Jaya Ahsan) and ex-wife Subhra (Churni Ganguly) together on a mission. The screenplay and acting department transform this family drama of sorts into an intense tale of marital relationships. This is not the first film we have seen a confrontation between the former and present wives. But, instead of making it a crass story of sentimentality, the director delivers an engaging and tasteful human drama. That’s what worked for the film and why the audience showered love on Kaushik’s film.

Atanu Ghosh’s two films ‘Aaro Ek Prithibi’ and ‘Shesh Pata’ will definitely come under this category. We have always loved Atanu’s sensitive storytelling but considering box office numbers both films couldn’t live up to the expectation despite having its strength in story and acting. Prosenjit Chatterjee’s stellar act in ‘Shesh Pata’ received appreciation from all but the film’s business was somewhat dull. Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Kaberi Antardhaan’ also falls prey to this. Also, we have to consider the ‘Pathaan’ storm at the box office. There are others such as ‘Doctor Bakshi’, ‘Ghore Pherar Gaan’, ‘Love Marriage’ which had a moderate box office outings.

People were quite excited with Srijato’s directorial debut ‘Manobjomin’, especially with a star cast of Parambrata, Priyanka Sarkar and Paran Bandopadhyay. But the film turned out to be a disaster. Arindam Sil’s ‘Mayaakumari’ too couldn’t live up to the expectations. Similarly, Anjan Dutt’s Revolver Rohoshyo, Aritra Sen’s Ghore Pherar Gaan, and Sayantan Ghosal’s ‘Tenida and Co. among others were a string of flops for Tollywood.

However, there are quite a few highly anticipated films like Birsa Dasgupta’s ‘Durgo Rahoshyo’, Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Dawshom Abotaaar’, Arindam Sil’s new Mitin Mashi film and Nandita-Shiboprosad’s ‘Roktobeej’ all waiting for their release. But Tollywood will have a much tougher challenge in the coming months, since a hand full of big Bollywood and pan-India South releases are also in the pipeline for the rest of the year.