December gives some respite with 2 hits

As the year draws to a close the celluloid industry can take a sigh of relief with year-end releases making money.

As the year draws to a close the celluloid industry can take a sigh of relief with two of the films released in the month of December spinning money at the box-office after some of the biggest flops, terror attacks and recession.

The films 8216;Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi8217; and 8216;Ghajini8217; released this month have recorded impressive opening bringing cheer to the industry suffering financial crisis.

According to the trade pundits, Ghajini has broken all the previous records of advance-booking and it is all set to be the biggest hit of the year.

The Aamir Khan movie8217;s first day collection is almost thrice of Shahrukh8217;s 8216;Rab Ne Bana di Jodi8217;. The Wednesday8217;s paid premier itself collected 7.5 crores, they add.

It is worth noticing that the most of the Bollywood8217;s big hits have come post-Diwali season. Be it 8216;Dostana, 8216;Golmaal Returns8217; and 8216;Fashion8217;. The early part of the year has seen only four 8211; 8216;Race8217;, 8216;Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na8217;, 8216;Singh Is Kinng8217; and 8216;Jodhaa Akbar8217; 8211; big budget hits.

According to trade analysts, 8216;Golmaal Returns8217; has grossed Rs 90 crore, 8216;Fashion8217; Rs 60 crore, 8216;Dostana8217; Rs 55 crore, 8216;Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi8217; Rs 100 crore approx. till now and 8216;Ghajini8217; is all prepared to do better than all the above by the end of only its first week.

8220;The film industry which had lost close to Rs 600 million in the month of October alone, is trying to recover from the Mumbai terror attack and global meltdown backlash. The weekend tickets of 8216;Ghajini8217; which is priced at inflated rate of rs 250- 300 is not restricting audiences from hitting theatres and that8217;s a very good sign,8221; says an expert.

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According to FICCI-PwC Entertainment and Media report 2008, the growth of the sector was a healthy one in 2007, ie over 17 per cent over 2006 but it may come down to single digits this year, thanks to slowdown in consumer spending across categories and cautious producers stalling projects.

8220;8216;Ghajini8217; will be a big boost. But this year it will be difficult for Bollywood to equal previous years growth due to the global economic meltdown in the market. But why blame only the market, even filmmakers are not producing good films. After big budget films like Drona, Kidnap, Karzzzz and Tashan bombed at the box office, it forced corporates to take a long hard look at their finances,8221; says film trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

With many much-hyped big releases with top stars failed to impress cinegoers this year, small budget films made by new and lesser known film makers have managed to attract people to theatres.

While futuristic films like 8216;Drona8217; and 8216;Love Story 20508217; in the category of Rs 40-50 crore budget were outrightly rejected by cinema-goers, dark horses like 8216;Aamir8217;, 8216;Rock On8217;, 8216;Welcome to Sajjanpur8217; and 8216;A Wednesday8217; managed to attract audiences for 3-4 weeks. 8216;Kidnap8217;, U,Me Aur Hum8217;, 8216;Hello8217;, were others to join the big league of flop films.

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In the last two-three years, anyone can see the change. Much awaited films like 8216;Sarkar Raj8217;, 8216;Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic8217; 8216;Saawariya8217;, 8216;Tashan8217;, 8216;Krazzy 48217; performed badly and was below critics expectation, low budget films like 8216;Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na8217; , 8216;Khosla ka Ghosla8217;, 8216;Bheja Fry8217;, 8216;Aamir8217;, 8216;A Wednesday8217; were surprise package and did extremely well at box office, especially in metros.