Mumbai: With Indian cinema celebrating its 100 years in 2013, Bollywood found newcomers challenging the reign of superstars in the 100 crore club even as small-budget but content driven films found acceptance at the box office.
Shah Rukh Khan and his star power led the march to the 100 crore club with his ‘Chennai Express’ which became the first film of the year to surpass the old standard by earning more than 200 crores at the box office.
The 100 crore club found new members in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Farhan Akhtar-starrer biopic ‘ Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Krrish 3’, Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’, Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone starrer Sanjay Leela Bhansali film ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela’ and the over-performing adult comedy ‘Grand Masti’, whose success surprised even its makers.
The year’s much awaited release is yet to come as Aamir Khan starrer ‘Dhoom 3’ hits the screens on December 20. Aamir is expected to take ‘Dhoom’ series, already a hit franchise, to new heights.
Gone are the days when films ran for several weeks and terms like golden jubilee and silver jubilee measured the success. The yardstick of a blockbuster this year was not longevity in the cinema halls, but the box office collection especially during the weekend.
“It was a good year for the industry. This year films were breaking record after record, like ‘Chennai Express’ was the huge hit of the year. And now Aamir Khan’s ‘Dhoom 3’ is coming which surely will turn out to be the highest grosser of this year. Also, small films managed to recover money and did well,” trade analyst Vikas Mohan said.
“This year both big as well as small films did well. This shows the audience is ready for good cinema,” said Vinod Mirani, another trade analyst.
Abbas Mastan directed multi-starrer ‘Race 2’ became the first film of the year to enter the 100 crore club. Then came Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika starrer ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. A romance with some coming-of-age elements thrown in, the film was not as promising as Ayan Mukherji’s debut ‘Wake Up Sid’ but the chemistry between its lead pair managed to find love from the young crowd.
