The Hindu Business Line : Bollywood films fail to rake in box-office moolah

THE year 2005 is yet to see a box-office blazer from the Hindi film industry. Trade enquiries revealed that none of the films released in 2005 have been able to achieve a pan-Indian success on their theatrical circuit, though they are bound to say that Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black and Madhur Bhandarkar's Page 3 have had modest success in Mumbai.

This year, three big budget films have been released so far — Kisna (Mukta Arts Limited), Shabd (Pritish Nandy Communication) and Black (Applause Entertainment). Most of the films released this year have had modest to lacklustre opening weekends. Kisna and Shabd had a drastic fall in their theatre occupancy after the first weekend.

According to International Business Overview Standard, Black has had a collection of Rs 18.91 crore at the end of the second weekend. Domestic collections stood at Rs 15.83 crore, while overseas collections were at Rs 3.08 crore. Trade sources said the film, which has an unusual theme, started with 65 per cent occupancy in Mumbai. "The film is drawing crowds only in cities like Mumbai," said one of the trade sources.

But there are indications that interest in the film, which is about a blind and deaf-mute girl is picking up. In the overseas markets too, the film is drawing crowds. Shabd opened well but petered out in a week. It has had a collection of Rs 6.26 crore in two weeks, way below Black, although both the films were released in the same weekend.

Kisna, the other big budget film, in its four-week run collected Rs 12.32 crore. This Mukta Arts Ltd's production failed to impress audiences, despite the presence of Vivek Oberoi.

Page 3 has done well mainly in the metros, particularly in Mumbai, trade sources said. At the end of four weeks, it had a total collection of Rs 7.02 crore. Most other recent releases such as Sheesha, Chaahat, Humdum, Jurm and Chehra have failed to draw in audiences.

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Bollywood films fail to rake in box-office moolah