By
far
the
biggest
hit
of
the
year
is
undoubtedly
Raj
Kumar
Hirani"s
latest
magnum
opus
3
Idiots.
The
film
has
witnessed
unprecedented
opening
collections
including
the
paid
preview
collections.
Perhaps
for
the
first
time
in
the
annals
of
the
Hindi
cinema,
3
Idiots
had
as
many
as
38
shows
starting
from
the
unearthly
hour
of
6
am.
Besides
3
Idiots" there
were
only
ten
out
of
the
240
plus
films
made
in
Hindi
during
the
year,
which
proved
to
be
hits.
They
were
Love
Aaj
Kal,
Kaminey,
All
The
Best,
Wanted,
De
Dana
Dan,
New
York,
Wake
Up
Sid,
Raaz-
The
Mystery
Continues,
Dev
D,
Paa
and
last
but
not
the
least
Ajab
Prem
Ki
Ghazab
Kahani.
Love
Aaj
Kal,
director
Imtiaz
Ali"s
third
directorial
venture
and
Saif"s
first
attempt
as
a
producer,
which
was
appreciated
by
both
critics
and
audiences.
Though
it
was
made
on
a
budget
of
Rs.48
crore,
it
did
business
of
about
Rs.75
crore
in
its
first
week
itself.
Spanning
two
different
eras,
the
romantic
drama
starred
Saif
Ali
Khan,
Deepika
Padukone
and
newcomer
Giselle
Monteiro.
The
unprecedented
success
of
Vishal
Bhardwaj"s
Kaminey
made
on
a
budget
of
Rs.35
crores
was
a
gamble
at
making
a
crime
thriller
that
succeeded
in
talking
both
director
Vishal
Bhardwaj
and
actor
Shahid
Kapoor
to
a
different
level.
Also
starring
Priyanka
Chopra,
the
film"s
box
office
earning
was
close
to
Rs.63.75
crore
in
India.
All
The
Best,
directed
by
Rohit
Shetty
was
the
solo
survivor
during
the
Diwali
week,
which
saw
the
release
of
Blue
as
well
as
Main
Aurr
Mrs.
Khanna
too.
The
laugh
riot
opened
to
a
slow
start,
but
picked
up
gradually,
thanks
to
word
of
mouth.
Starring
Ajay
Devgn,
Bipasha
Basu,
Sanjay
Dutt,
Fardeen
Khan
and
Mugdha
Godse,
it
grossed
Rs.50
crore
out
of
its
about
Rs.30
crores
investment.
Salman
Khan
ended
up
as
a
wanted
actor
by
every
one
in
Bollywood
after
his
film
Wanted,
the
Hindi
remake
of
the
Telugu
hit
Pokkiri,
which
sent
every
one"s
adrenaline
pumping
by
showing
the
power
of
single-screen
theatres
in
the
country
as
the
maximum
collections
came
from
there.
Directed
by
Prabhu
Deva,
the
film"s
total
cost
was
Rs.35
crores
but
it
recovered
the
investment
by
earning
Rs.38
crores
in
its
first
week
itself!
Though
De
Dana
Dan,
directed
by
Priyadarshan
had
stars
like
Akshay
Kumar,
Sunil
Shetty,
Paresh
Rawal,
Katrina
Kaif
and
Sameera
Reddy,
and
started
with
a
good
box
office
response,
it
started
limping
gradually
and
will
take
some
time
before
it
makes
a
kill
at
the
box
office.
Made
at
a
budget
of
Rs.37
crores,
it
managed
to
rake
in
around
Rs.68
crore
at
the
domestic
box
office
and
is
still
running.
Kabir
Khan"s
New
York
broke
the
dry
spell
at
the
ticket
counters
as
the
first
hit
after
the
producer-distributor
and
multiplex
strike
over
revenue
sharing
got
over.
The
film
dealt
with
terrorism
and
had
John
Abraham,
Katrina
Kaif
and
Neil
Nitin
Mukesh
as
key
players.
Where
producer
Karan
Johar
was
unlucky
with
his
film
on
terrorism-
Kurbaan
flopping
at
the
box
office,
Aditya
Chopra
was
happy
with
handsome
rewards
at
the
box
office
for
his
film.
Aditya,
however,
was
disappointed
with
the
outcome
at
the
box
office
of
both
his
ambitious
films
Dil
Bole
Hadippa
and
Rocket
Singh-
Salesman
Of
The
Year
directed
by
Shimit
Amin.
Wake
Up
Sid,
not
an
expensive
film
by
any
standard
hit
the
bull"s
eye
at
the
box
office
though
it
had
an
unusual
lead
pair
-
Ranbir
Kapoor
and
Konkona
Sen
Sharma.
Made
on
a
low
budget
of
Rs.15
crores
by
Karan
Johar
under
his
banner
Dharma
Productions,
the
debutant
director
Ayan
Mukherjee"s
film
collected
Rs.42.75
crores
in
India.
.
Raaz-
The
Mystery
Continues
proved
to
be
an
unexpected
success
and
the
first
hit
of
the
year.
The
movie
proved
that
content
rules
at
the
box
office.
Made
on
a
shoestring
budget
of
Rs.9
crore,
producers
Mahesh
and
Mukesh
Bhatt
managed
to
earn
Rs.33
crores
in
India.
Director
Mohit
Suri"s
film
had
Emraan
Hashmi,
Kangana
Ranaut
and
Adhyayan
Suman
in
the
lead
roles.
The
Bhatts
tasted
failure
with
their
next
venture
Jashn,
which
had
Shekhar
Suman"s
son
Adhyayan
leading
the
star
cast
with
Anjana
Sukhani
and
Shahana
Goswami.
Abhay
Deol
scored
a
high
as
an
actor
with
his
hit
film
Dev
D,
a
low-budget
film
with
not
so
big
co-stars
like
Mahi
Gill
and
Kalki
Koechlin.
It
was
writer
Anurag
Kashyap"s
take
on
Sarat
Chandra
Chattopadhyay's
classic
Bengali
novel
Devdas.
Director
Anurag
Kashyap
presented
the
doomed
love
story
with
chutzpah
and
people
loved
watching
the
tragic
love
story
in
its
new
avatar.
While
the
total
money
invested
in
the
movie
was
a
meager
Rs.6
crores,
it
earned
Rs.23.25
crores.
Ajab
Prem
Ki
Ghazab
Kahani
directed
by
Rajkumar
Santoshi
who
tasted
a
big
hit
after
his
film
Hulla
Bol
flopped
last
year,
proved
to
be
the
savior
for
Ranbir
Kapoor,
besides
Wake
Up
Sid,
though
his
Rocket
Singh-
Salesman
of
the
year
bombed,
like
Madhur
Bhandarkar"s
Jail.
The
Ranbir-Katrina
star
pair
was
liked
by
the
audiences,
so
much
so,
that
the
media
was
full
of
stories
about
how
Ranbir
had
dropped
his
lady
love
Deepika
for
the
sake
of
Katrina,
in
spite
of
Salman
Khan,
though
both
Ranbir
and
Kat
denied
the
stories
vehemently.
Amitabh
Bachchan
proved
that
he
is
indeed
the
Shahenshah
at
the
box
office
by
coming
up
with
an
award
winning
performance
as
Abhishek
Bachchan
and
Vidya
Balan"s
child
afflicted
with
illness
called
Progeria
in
'Paa".
The
film
directed
by
R.
Balki
who
had
earlier
made
Cheeni
Kum
was
made
on
a
budget
of
Rs
16
crores
but
can
be
safely
called
a
hit
because
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Abhishek
Bachchan
and
directors
R.
Balki
reportedly
did
not
charge
their
market
price
for
the
film
and
also
the
Bachchans-
both
Amitabh
and
Abhishek
have
reportedly
kept
the
satellite
rights
of
the
film
which
is
valued
at
Rs
10
crores.
Though
Priyanka
had
a
hit
in
the
form
of
Kaminey,
she
tasted
failure
when
What's
Your
Raashee?
proved
that
she
couldn"t
carry
a
film
on
her
shoulders.
Ditto
was
the
case
with
Rani
Mukherjee
who
could
not
carry
Dil
Bole
Hadippa
on
her
shoulders.
Though
the
year
proved
to
be
dismal
for
Shahrukh
Khan
whose
Billu
flopped
at
the
box
office,
in
spite
of
having
Priyadarshan
as
the
director.
Kareena
tasted
failure
with
both
Main
Aurr
Mrs
Khanna
as
well
as
Kurbaan
though
she
had
a
hit
in
the
form
of
3
Idiots.
Bipasha
had
a
hit
in
All
The
Best
though
her
film
Aa
Dekhe
Zara
sank
without
a
trace.
As
far
as
the
actors
are
concerned,
it
was
certainly
a
bad
year
for
Akshay
Kumar,
since
every
film
of
his
flopped-
8
X
10
Tasveer,
Chandni
Chowk
to
China,
Kambakkht
Ishq
and
Blue.
To
some
extent
De
Dana
Dan
helped
him
resurrect
his
sagging
career.
Saif
Ali
Khan
had
a
hit
in
Love
Aaj
Kal
and
a
flop
in
Kurbaan.
It
is
Aamir
Khan
who
scored
a
high
with
his
film
3
Idiots
which
was
an
icing
on
the
cake
for
Rajkumar
Hirani
whose
third
film
it
was,
after
Munnabhai
MBBS
and
Lage
Raho
Munnabhai.
On
the
whole,
it
was
a
lackadaisical
and
lackluster
year
for
Bollywood
which
faced
the
worst
set
back
during
the
year
when
the
multiplexes
remained
closed
for
almost
two
months
crippling
the
film
industry
badly.
One
hopes
the
year
2010
is
able
to
bring
cheers
to
Bollywood!