Bollywood Box Office 2012 : It is Being Salman!!

The year 2012 has been a fairly good one for Bollywood from the Box Office perspective with both small budget and big budget films doing well. This is yet another year which has cemented Salman Khan as the undisputed “King/Badshah/Emperor” as far as the Box office is concerned, having just one contender who is close to him; and that is “Salman Khan”!!

There are a few trends coming from last year which have emerged stronger this year. If the action films had initiated a new trend with “Wanted” few years back, this year has ensured that its this genre which will call the shots as far as the successful list goes contributing the top 4 most successful movies of the year : Ek Tha Tiger, Dabangg2, Rowdy Rathore & Agneepath. Second trend which has gained significance this year is the importance of the opening weekend and contribution of Important Holidays in the first week of the film. If EK Tha Tiger continued Salman’s association with success @ Eid, it wrote history with an opening day of 32 Crores on the Independence Day. Dabangg 2 gained from Christmas holiday and Agneepath had a Huge opening on the Republic Day with record breaking 21.7 crores at Indian Box office. This was later eclipsed by the Tiger Salman on the Independence Day. Another trend which gained significance was that sequels to winning brands will succeed as long as they are packaged well: Housefulll2, Jannat 2, Raaz3 & Dabanng 2 all carried forward the success from their last outings.


If 100 Crore club has become the new buzz word @ Bollywood, Salman starrers get measured by the number of days they take to cross this magical figure! His last 5 films have cruised this mark : Dabangg, Ready, Bodyguard, EK Tha Tiger (ETT) & latest Dabangg2 have competed to cross the mark earlier than the previous one!! While Kabir Khan’s ETT had merit in becoming Blockbuster, Dabangg 2 seemed a replica of earlier version, only Chulbul Pandey making it click with the audiences! If this golden phase will be endless for him, only time will have an answer. But as of now its only Being Salman!! He has left all other stars including his Khan Competitors miles behind as far as the box office is concerned. Akshay Kumar had a successful year with 2 of his movies hitting the bulls eye with Sajid Khan’s Housefull 2 & Prabhu Deva directed Rowdy being years third biggest hit. With his production Oh My God getting universal applause along with superhit status and Khiladi 786 being an average fare, Joker was the only dampener for him in 2012. With 2 of his films in the Top 5 this year, he can certainly claim the year after Salman! He only needs to see if his 5 movies a year is a viable Business model considering every movie needs extensive marketing today. Hrithik made his mark with Agneepath this year. The Karan Johar production was the first Superhit of the year with critical acclaim for Hrithik as Amithabh’s legendary character Vijay Dinanath Chauhan & Sanjay Dutt shining as Kancha.

If Sallu swept with 2 Blockbusters, it was Amir who could not match the expectations of returning after 3 Idiots, with his Talaash meeting mixed reactions from critics & public alike and failing to cross the benchmark of 100 crores in India. Though Reema Kagti directed film was a brave offbeat attempt from the star, it was not something which seemed an attempt which took the star 3years to come back after his last Universal blockbuster which happens to be still the most successful film ever. Shahrukh did manage to cross the magical figure, but with Jab Tak Hain Jaan (JTHJ); he could not crush competition from Ajay starrer “Son of Sardar” with both films just faring to be Hits eating business of each other as Diwali releases. Though Yash Chopra’s last film as director got hyped due to unfortunate demise of the filmmaker before the release & the public spat between YRF with Ajay Devgun for the number of screens for their respective ventures, it failed to live up to expectations on Box office. This year has further increased the gap between him and his friend turned colleague Salman on the popularity charts with latter ruling as the undisputed “King” amongst audiences, while former being in news more for his undesired public spats rather than the Box office speaking for him.

Ajay Devgan had another good year with his Bol Bachhan & Son of Sardar working for him with Tezz being only losing venture. Ranbir tasted more success with Barfi winning over critics and public alike strengthening his credentials as an Actor & a Star! From the actress, it was Katrina who spoke with hits like ETT, JTHJ and some exciting projects up her sleeve, she is bound to have longer successful spell with the box office. Sonakshi had a great year with Rowdy, Son of Sardaar & Dabangg2 to her credit. Kareena just had a face saver in terms of Talaash & most successful “Fevicol” number to her otherwise poor year where EK Main aur Ek Tu & Heroine fared badly. Priyanka tasted success with Agneepath and author backed role in Barfi, which won her critical acclaim while Teri Meri Kahani was a total washout. Then new stars were seen on the horizon this year in form of Ayushman Khurana & Yami Gautam (Vicky Donor), Arjun Kapoor & Parineeti Chopra (Ishaqzaade) both being successful launchpads for the actors. Karan Johar launched in hit Student of the year Alia Bhatt, Sidharth & Varun Dhawan.

The year witnessed some unconventional & smaller films succeeding with the audiences balancing the big budget fares proving a market for every “Good” movie which entertains and clicks with the filmi junta. After Dirty picture, Vidya Balan gave another superhit in form of Offbeat “Kahaani”. If Paan Singh Tomar had Irfaan Khan gathering praise along with the maker, Gangs of Wasseypur was Anurag Kashyap’s vision which was lauded. Emraan Hashmi had success with the Bhatt’s in terms of Jannat2 and Raaz3, while Vicky Donor, Cocktail & English Vinglish were some other successes for the year.
With shelf life of Bollywood products being reduced to 1-3weeks at the Box office, it is becoming a game of right package, economics coupled with aggressive marketing & the right release dates to be on the winning side. Lets hope this year will see more success for the Bollywood as the last one and keep the audiences thronging the multiplexes and single screens for meeting their favorite stars & the pop corns :) :)

It’s aLL About Marketing… (Part 1 : Movie Marketing)

The Story of First Weekend:

If one takes out the collections of some of big hits of 80’s, one would be surprised to note they had collected less than what many movies are collecting in first day of their release today. Though it is worth noting that making these comparisons is unjust as the inflation has taken a toll during these decades and the ticket prices and the numbers of screens today are much higher from that era. But another interesting aspect is that films during that period used to collect this amount over a long period of time, celebrating silver jubilee and golden jubilees during their run. Today the much larger collections are witnessed over a much shorter period of time and even biggest blockbusters today don’t need to (even intend to!) eye a silver jubilee if not more.

The Box office has become huge & so have the efforts to rake in moolah in shortest possible time. Today a shelf life of the film ranges from a week to month, some being very lucky to survive a couple. And thus the concept of “Bumper Opening” has become significant. This makes marketing guys relevant, having a task clearly cut out for them. The film marketing has suddenly become as important as making a movie if not more. The content and quality come more into play from the first Monday, but the weekend is all dependent upon the hype which has been generated by the stars and makers thanks to the positive/negative publicity generated before the release. Earlier marketing would mean a good Premiere of the film with few interviews, but today it is about creative hype across the media spectrum sustained over a period of time. Now even superstars like Shah Rukh Khan realize this importance and go on a marketing blitzkrieg with every release. The results are evident: Ra One has collected a humongous 80.5 Crore on an extended 5 day weekend and collapsing to a total of 115 Cr net lifetime from India (Hindi versions). Similarly Bodyguard collected a thundering 85 crore in its 5 days weekend against a total lifetime of 140 Crs from India. Irrespective of the feedback/content, films are clocking over half its lifetime business in the first weekend alone.

This brings us to a very important aspect: Today weekend is all about Right Date + Appropriate Genre + High Print + High Marketing & Huge Hype which translates into Bumper opening. This wins more than half the battle for the makers. The only rest left is to convince the people through good reviews/paid PR through media that film is good, this gets their shelf life enhanced with greater lifetime for their product. Yes, movies are not only about creative satisfaction for most today, its about a highly entertaining product which is bombarded on the paying public for significant ROI!! You would thereby find big stars like Aamir & SRK going hammer & tongs using their creative thoughts publicising their flicks. Even makers like Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiawala & Farah Khan know this bitter fact "Jo Dikhta hai, Vo Bikta hai".

With increasing channels and exploding media including social networking, the game is simple. From the day of ideation, the marketing shoes need to be ON :)
Generate HYPE to get max. public in to see your movie once it opens and then plant desired PR to get other potential audience making them believe the flick is worth watching!! The 3 M is clear: Manufacture Movies & Market them like hell, I mean well :)