Bollywood suffers a loss of over 200 crore

The January to April 2010 period saw major turkeys like Shahid Kapoor’s Chance Pe Dance, Priyanka Chopra’s Pyaar Impossible, Amitabh Bachchan’s Teen Patti and Abhay Deol’s Road Movie to mention a few.“This year we have been lucky,” says Vajir Singh, Editor of trade journal Box Office India. “First we broke the January jinx with No One Killed Jessica and the huge hit in Yamla Pagla Deewana. Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji and Dhobi Ghat sailed through. In the World Cup season too we managed to have a runaway hit in Tanu Weds Manu.Trade analyst Taran Adarsh (Bollywood Hungama) agrees that theproducers did fear the ides of March; this month didn’t have anysignificant release but April brought some relief in Faltu that opened well.Taran also adds that 2011 most certainly brought a smile on the faces of somedistributors. “While the number of flops far outnumbered the hits, theimportant thing to note is that the dark horses worked. Honestly, YPD gave theDeols a new lease of life. NOKJ also worked. Tanu Weds Manu gave people reasonto believe that if a story is well told and packaged with good music, they willfind takers. Even F.A.L.T.U that had fresh talent and good music proved a goodinvestment.’’The losses on films like Patiala House, Saat Khoon Maaf,Game, Thank You and countless terrible small flicks like Impatient Vivek, Vikalpand others still total up to a loss of around Rs 225crore.“But business this year should be brisk,’’says filmmaker Rohit Shetty. “There are several big films awaiting releaseand getting a decent release window looks impossible, unless you have blocked adate from the start.’’Of course, the period that the trade is most excited about is the last four months when Shah Rukh Khan will come twice with Ra.One (Diwali) and Don-2 (Christmas), Hrithik Roshan will reprise Amitabh Bachchan’s cult classic Agneepath in November, Ranbir Kapoor will steal hearts in Rockstar (September 9, tentative), Imran Khan will also come twice over in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Short Term Shaadi. Ranveer Singh will arrive with Ladies V/s Ricky Behl on December 9, a date on which Saif plans to release his spy thriller Agent Vinod. Sit back and watchthe superstar shenanigans. Ra.One alone has over 110 cr riding on it; the resttoo will all add to a humungous figure. Hold your breath... Bollywood’sbiggest gamble to date will be played out in the last four months of2011.The May to August period has big films like Ready (June 3), DelhiBelly (July 1) Bbuddha (July 8, tentative), Singham and Mausam (July 22) andBodyguard (August 31) lined up.