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Hindi movies, better known as Bollywood movies, seem to have witnessed some ‘Achche Din’ in the first six months of 2019-20, if the net box office collections of some movies are anything to go by.
This fact is visible in a comparative study of the domestic net box office collection of Bollywood movies released during the first six months of 2019-20 as against the corresponding period in 2018-19.
Though some movies made with budgets of ₹100 crore and above did not yield expected returns, some that were made with budgets below ₹50 crore made net box office collectionsin excess of ₹100 crore.
Data available on the film trade website Bollywood Hungama was used for this analysis.
Q1 not as good as last year
Bollywood movies released in the first quarter of 2018-19 had better net box office collections than those released in the corresponding period of 2019-20.
The first quarter of 2018-19 saw the release of movies such as Sanju, Race 3, Kaala Karikaalan, Veere Di Wedding, Parmanu – The Story Of Pokhran, Raazi, 102 Not Out, October, and Blackmail. These movies put together made a net box office collection of around ₹902 crore. Of them, the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju, a biopic of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, earned net box office receipts of over ₹340 crore on its own.
Alia Bhatt-starer Raazi, a spy thriller, recorded net box office collections of over ₹123 crore.
Some of the major Bollywood releases during the first quarter of 2019-20 were: Kabir Singh, Bharat, PM Narendra Modi, De De Pyaar De, Student Of The Year 2, Kalank, The Tashkent Files, and Romeo Akbar Walter.
These movies saw total net box office business of around ₹822 crore. Of them, the Shahid Kapoor-starrer Kabir Singh (a remake of Telugu movie Arjun Reddy) alone earned around ₹278 crore.
Actor Salman Khan, known for his Eid releases, came out with big budget movies during the first quarter of both financial years. Though his movies crossed the ₹100-crore mark, he did not make much of an impact at the box office in terms of the budgets of these movies.
Better Q2 show this year
The second quarter of 2019-20 saw the release of movies such as Dream Girl, Section 375, Chhichhore, Saaho, Batla House, Mission Mangal, Jabariya Jodi, Judgemental Hai Kya, and Super 30. These movies saw net box office business of around ₹933 crore in the second quarter of 2019-20.
Compared to 2018-19, five movies — Dream Girl, Chhichhore, Saaho, Mission Mangal, and Super 30 — crossed the ₹100-crore mark in net box office collectionsin 2019-20. The Akshay Kumar-starer Mission Mangal, which was loosely based on ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission, went on to record net box office business of over ₹200 crore.
Some notable releases during the second quarter of 2018-19 were: Sui Dhaaga – Made In India, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Manmarziyaan, Stree, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, Gold, Satyameva Jayate, Mulk, Karwaan, Fanney Khan, Dhadak, and Soorma.
The net box office business of these movies was around ₹636 crore during this period. Of them, only two Bollywood movies — Stree and Gold — crossed the ₹100-crore mark in net box office collections during the second quarter of 2018-19.
Horror comedy Stree, starring Shradha Kapoor and Rajkumar Rao, which was made with a budget of around ₹25 crore, went on to earn more than ₹125 crore.
This year, Saaho — the much expected Bollywood movie of Telugu actor Prabhas, known for his role in the movie Baahubali — did not make much of an impact on the silver screen. It was reported in the media that the movie was made with a budget of over ₹300 crore.
The net box office business of the above-mentioned 2019-20 movies was ₹1,755.37 crore in the first half of the year as against ₹1,538.50 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19. This translates into growth of around 14.09 per cent during the first half of the current financial year.
Slowdown indicator?
At a time when various data points are indicating an economic slowdown in the country, some people in social media and political circles have started highlighting the performance of Bollywood movies to say there is no slowdown in the economy.
In fact, Union Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s recent statement on collections by the movie industry attracted a lot of attention on the social media platforms.
Quoting the figures of the film trade analyst Komal Nahta, the minister said that three movies — War, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, and Joker — had seen earnings of ₹120 crore on October 2. He went on to add that the economy of the country is sound, which is these movies saw ticket sales of ₹120 crore in a day.
However, he later withdrew these remarks saying a part of his statement was twisted out of context.
Interestingly, Bollywood movies have now become the yardstick for measuring the economic condition of the country for some social media users and politicians.
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