Bollywood’s quarterly report card, from January to March, shows the industry in the brightest possible light – at least one film has hit the Rs 100 crore mark every month in 2017. Raees made Rs 131.65 crore in January, while Jolly LLB 2 went on to make Rs 107.4 crore in February. March had Badrinath Ki Dulhania making Rs 110 crore.
However, while films like Raees and Kaabil began generating substantial profits early in the year, scores of films fared badly at the box-office.
Nevertheless, industry experts speaking to Hindustan Times say that there would be many more films crossing the Rs 100 crore mark this year. Taran Adarsh, a trade analyst, says, “Footfall has increased compared to last year. If you look at the number of hits in the first three months, it has been better than any year [for the same period].”
Despite the solid progress in terms of finance, experts feel that there hasn’t been much improvement in the quality of films. Speaking to Hindustan Times, producer Pritish Nandy says, “We didn’t have path-breaking as well as commercially huge films in the first quarter of this year. If you want path-breaking films, don’t expect them to make big money. Path-breaking films happen in the non-commercial area.”
Further, the films in the Rs 100 crore category represents a small margin. According to a Movified report, 86.49 percent of the total films that released in the first quarter bombed at the box-office. Out of the 37 films that released this year, only 5 performed above average or better, while a whopping 28 were declared disasters, such as M.A. Pass, Double Dealer, Hyena Ek Chalak Haseena etc.
Recommended
However, to put 2017’s progress in perspective, according to a report prepared by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and management consultants KPMG, 2016 had films that were largely disappointing, with only a few notable exceptions. These include Dangal (Rs 387.39 cr), Sultan (Rs 300.5 cr), MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (Rs 133.04 cr), Airlift (Rs 129 cr), and Rustom (Rs 127.42 cr).
Thus far, experts are pegging their hopes on Baahubali: The Conclusion to rake in more money in 2017, given that it will release in over 6,500 screens across various languages on 28 April.