Bollywood's Rs 1,000 crore+ bonanza

Come May, Bollywood will be under a deluge of films. And it’s not only an exceptionally high number of films that will hit the theatres in the second half of the year that’s sending anxious ripples of excitement in the industry, but the moolah at stake, that has everyone on their feet. Trade analysts are pegging the figures to be approximately a mind-boggling Rs1,000 crore plus this year.

“The last quarter of every year anyway sees the big-budget films take centrestage. But this year, the prolonged cricket season coupled with the examination period, has ensured that even the big summer releases get pushed to the second half or rather the last seven months of the year, which is going to be choc-a-block no doubt,” says trade pundit Amod Mehra.

This is seconded by trade analyst Taran Adarsh, who agrees that in terms of money, it’s going to be a bigger bet than ever. “The money we are talking about is really big (a little less than double) as compared to the previous years,” he says. Apart from the close release of all big, medium and small budget films, the industry insiders also attribute the high monies to the fact that as opposed to previous years, this time around many A-listers will be having as many as two releases that ups this stake.

“Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One itself is a 100 crore plus film. Add to that another big-budget Don 2 and the money on SRK itself increases to nearly 175 crore. Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn each have close to about 220 crore riding on them. Ditto with the other stars, who bring to the table about 150 crore plus each. That itself totals up close to  800 crore,” they inform.

While they add that these are still approximate figures as many films are yet to zero in on a final release date, they claim that the stakes will only tend to go higher as opposed to reduce.

“Many of these films have been creating so much buzz already that if their releases are prolonged, they might affect the audience acceptability and curiosity at the BO. That’s taking a risk and it’s best to release them when the film’s fresh in the minds of the audience,” shares a distributor.

While the theatre-goers certainly will have reason to rejoice with the wide menu available on their platters, the undercurrents tell a different story. “It will be cut-throat competition. While most-likely the big stars will emerge unscathed, the mid-budget films may suffer unless their content is really up to the mark,” says a veteran producer. “It will be interesting as the entire juggernaut may throw up some surprises too. We don’t know about our money, but for the audience it will be a complete paisa-vasool second half for sure,” concludes Mehra.