Handful of hits, big duds jolt Bollywood - 2010 in Retrospect

The Hindi film industry failed to set the cash registers ringing in 2010 despite big budget outings starring A-listers and accompanying marketing blitzkrieg. With only five hits, Bollywood suffered a net loss of about $66 million this year, say experts.

"This year has not been very good. The only hits in 2010 have been Dabangg, Golmaal 3, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai and Peepli Live that have saved the year from being a disaster," trade analyst Komal Nahta told IANS.

Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD), shot with a digital camera, rounds up the top five.

"Balaji Motion Pictures is proud of making quality content, that too within feasible budgets...That is how two of our films (Once Upon A Time In Mumabi and LSD) have made it into the top five films of 2010. This is perhaps the perfect recipe for a hit," Girish Johar, head of acquisition and distribution, Balaji, told IANS.

Trade sources say the approximate net earnings of LSD, Once Upon In Mumbai, Peepli Live, Dabangg and Golmaal 3 have been INR90 million, INR60 million, INR280 million, INR1.45 billion and INR970 million respectively, while their budgets were INR10 million, INR200 million, INR70 million, INR400 million and INR45 million respectively.

"The losses are around INR2.5-3 billion after deducting the total profits of all the profit making movies from the total losses of the loss-making films and not considering films releasing December 10 onwards," added Nahta, who also hosts the popular trade show "ETC Bollywood Business".

Some are blaming the lacklustre year on the film themes.

Film historian SMM Ausaja said: "The year has not been very eventful for Bollywood in terms of the success rate. The reason is the kind of subjects that were chosen.

"The producers mostly signed a star and wove a story around him, which was not engaging. All this mounted to production costs and the producers didn't get such returns."

With over 180 releases, the year saw big movies such as Kites, Raavan, Rakta Charitra - Part I and II, Veer, Action Replay, Guzaarish and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey bite the dust.

A-list starrers like Pyaar Impossible!, Paathshala, Rann, Teen Patti, Khatta Meetha, Jhootha Hi Sahi, We Are Family, Aakrosh and Knock Out were also damp squibs.

But there were some movies that were neither hits nor flops like My Name Is Khan, Housefull, Raajneeti and Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge. While Badmaash Company, I Hate Luv Storys, Break Ke Baad, Anjaana Anjaani, Tere Bin Laden and Phas Gaye Re Obama did average business.

Underworld drama Once Upon A Time In Mumbai and Salman Khan's corrupt cop saga Dabangg managed to revive single screen theatres.

There were some like Ishqiya, Well Done Abba, Lahore, Udaan, Red Alert - The War Within and Do Dooni Char, which went on to win critical acclaim.

Superstar Rajnikant too made a comeback in B-Town at 60 as an android opposite Aishwarya Rai in Robot.

2010 proved to be jinxed for all horror movies namely Click, Rokkk, Hide & Seek, Shaapit, Phoonk 2, Help, Mallika, Bachao and A Flat.

The experts suggest reasonable budgets in the coming year as a way out.

"The push back strategy would be to create good quality content within reasonable budgets with full involvement from all sectors, including creative marketing strategies, to attract eyeballs," said Johar.

Nahta said: "They need to work harder on the scripts. Secondly, they should be more realistic in their star pricing. The costs are so high, they can't recover their costs. It is not worthwhile to pay so much."

Ausaja said, "Audiences are not fools. The producers have got to concentrate on content."

The industry is hoping to upgrade the balance sheet with the much-awaited Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif starrer Tees Maar Khan that has almost INR500 million riding on it. The film releases Dec 24, 2010.