<img title="Sultan, Dear Zindagi and Shivaay" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2017/jan/5Sultan-Dear-Shivaay-1.jpg" alt="Sultan, Dear Zindagi and Shivaay" /> 'Sultan', 'Dear Zindagi' and 'Shivaay'
In an earlier report shared by social networking platform Twitter to hitlist, content driven films, including Sultan, Dear Zindagi and Shivaay emerged as projects that garnered the maximum attention of twitteraties and became the most discussed films on the platform in 2016. Now, hitlist has learnt that the trend of films with meaty scripts outperforming those that were only visually appealing has reflected in their respective box office performances too.
"More than 30 per cent of this year's box office collections have come from films inspired by real life," says Shailesh Kapoor of Ormax media, alluding to the fact that biographical projects including Dangal, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Rustom, Airlift and Neerja have enjoyed a successful run a the box office. On the other hand, Mohenjo Daro, Befikre, Baar Baar Dekho, Mirzya and A Flying Jatt, all of which were upheld for being visually enchanting, failed to make a mark at the BO.
However, while the industry saw a fair share of good and bad movies, the box office collections for 2016, says Kapoor, failed to exceed those of its previous years. "2016 has been average for Bollywood. Even with Dangal doing exceptionally well, eyeing the 350 crore mark, the total domestic box office collection at an approximate of Rs 2,700 crore, failed to exceed that of its last three years." In fact, barring Aamir Khan's wrestler biopic, and Salman Khan's Sultan, no other project inched past the 150 crore mark.
Further, given the large number of films surpassing the 100 crore mark until two years ago, the once 'prestigious' figure began to lose its sheen. But over the past two years, informs Kapoor, only seven films have successfully scratched the figure, as opposed to the eight in 2014. "The industry has been on a marginal 5-10 per cent decline in revenue since last year, despite a rise in ticket prices, which means that the footfalls have fallen by about 15 per cent. It's a tough period for the industry, and the huge growth seen from 2007-2014 is now a thing of the past."
The growth of Hollywood That international shows are gaining a strong foothold among the Indian masses is evident by the growth of platforms like Netflix, which made such series easily accessible in India. It isn't surprising then that Hollywood films too are growing at a faster pace that their Bollywood counterparts. In fact, the third biggest grosser of 2016 was Jon Favreau's American fantasy adventure, The Jungle Book. However, Kapoor attributes India's affection towards Hollywood to the deterioration of Hindi cinema, which in turn has given more screen space to the former.
The lessons learnt Stressing on the need for filmmakers to choose their scripts wisely, distributor Akshaye Rathi says, "Unless the fraternity dishes out novel, engaging and entertaining content, nothing, not even star power, will lure the audience into the cinema hall.''
A promising 2017 Dangal's success has given credence to the fact that the masses are emerging from the effects of demonetisation, which had evidently taken a toll on the box office collections since November 2016. Further, with a series of promising projects to look forward to in 2017, including the Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight, Shah Rukh Khan's Raees and the second instalment of the Baahubali series among others, distributors are hopeful that the year will be a brighter one for Bollywood. Despite the poor run of franchise films in 2016, industry insiders are hopeful that 2017 will be more generous to the upcoming sequels, including Jolly LLB 2, Golmaal 4 and Zinda Tha Tiger, Sarkar 3, and Aankhen 2. Hopes are also being placed on big budget productions like Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmavati.
The good side of demonetisation Following the debacle of Ashutosh Gowariker's Hrithik Roshan-starrer Mohenjo Daro, rumours of production house, Disney, curbing its investments in Bollywood owing to severe losses, did the rounds. Now, the demonetisation move, says distributor Akshaye Rathi, will allow producers to begin with a clean slate and make wiser investments. "With funds becoming relatively scarce and studios conservative, there should be a shift in the way money dished out. It should only be done on avenues that add value to a film. Investments in production, distribution and marketing shall be done in a manner that prevents the wastage of funds. The fraternity needs to do things in a more efficient manner to ensure its well being," he says.

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Why Bollywood needs to pull up its socks

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