120 crore riding on heroines this season

In the next six weeks, 120-odd crores will ride on some of Bollywood’s best women talent. On a rough estimate, Rani Mukerji’s Aiyyaa is budgeted at ` 8 cr plus print and advertising.
Sridevi’s English Vinglish would roughly be around ` 16 cr plus Print and Advertising (P&A). Preity Zinta’sIshkq in Paris is approximately pegged at around ` 15 cr plus P & A.And Manisha Koirala’s Bhoot Returns has a budget of around ` 9 cr plus P & A.
However, instead of a sense of elation, there is a feeling of deja vu surrounding the projects. Trade sources say that all women-oriented films coming together is an unhappy coincidence. But it cannot be helped, because through the year, the male superstars take away the best release dates. This leaves the women with no choice.
A leading distributor-exhibitor says, “There are a couple of points to note here. Actresses can scream themselves hoarse about being equals. But they are far from that, especially as far as the film trade goes. Here, they are the lesser mortals. While people keep a safe distance of two weeks from a Salman Khan film because no one wishes to be buried under Sallu’s box office debris, here distributors/exhibitors are not even giving these women-oriented films a chance to breathe happily. Also, earlier filmmakers would dread coming in the pre-Diwali period. But now there is no choice because Republic Day, Eid, Pre-IPL, post-IPL, Independence Day and Diwali dates are booked for the big guys.”
Incidentally, women star-power came into focus because of Vidya Balan. Her The Dirty Picturemade at a budget of approximately ` 21 cr netted around ` 78 cr in total and her Kahaani made an even more modest budget of 8 cr plus P & A got its producers something to the tune of ` 40 cr. On the flip side, Kareena Kapoor’sHeroine that was made for approximately ` 24 cr with an additional P & A cost hasn’t given its investors any reason to rejoice.