Bollywood pins hope on big-budget releases to turn fortunes

After suffering losses due to the two-month stand off between producers and multiplexes on the revenue sharing issue, the film industry is now pinning its hopes on big budget releases to turn its fortunes, beginning with John-Katrina starrer New York, which opened on Friday.
       
With a slew of films lined up for release in the next few months including Kambhakt Ishq,Love Aaj Kal, Kaminey, and What's Your Rashee? the film industry is banking on these biggies to bring back the smiles, as the year has not been great for the industry in terms of box office success.
       
Yash Raj Films' New York starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh hit the screens on Friday. This will be followed by Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor starrer Kambakkht Ishq on July 3 and Saif Ali Khan's debut production Love Aaj Kal slated to release on July 31. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh told PTI that big bugdet releases will see the industry entering an exciting phase.
       
"The industry is keeping its fingers crossed and hoping for the best. One has to wait and see how the audience reacts to the biggies which will open in the coming weeks. 2009 has really been a bad year for Bollywood," he said. "Audience tastes have changed and it is not just big films which will draw them. The biggest challenge is to get the them back to theatres in large numbers and only good content will get noticed,"industry sources said.    

In the last was resolved, only Subhash Ghai's Paying Guests has been the major release film and dubbed it as a flop, Ghai has said the film has seen 80 per cent. The other major movie releases in the next few months include Shahid Kapur by Vishal Bharadwaj on August 14, Ashutosh Gowariker's  What's your Rashee? Baweja on September 25.