The
year
started
on
a
positive
note
with
young
guns
bringing
in
the
moolah,
but
overall,
2014
has
so
far
turned
out
to
be
a
disappointing
one
for
the
Bollywood
box
office,
say
trade
gurus,
pointing
out
at
how
only
seven
of
the
nearly
180
releases
surpassed
the
Rs.100
crore
($16
million)
mark
in
the
Hindi
film
industry,
which
has
grossed
an
estimated
turnover
of
Rs.2,350
crore
so
far.
Hope
lies
in
Aamir
Khan's
much-awaited
PK.
Whether
it
was
Tiger
Shroff's
Heropanti,
Sidharth
Malhotra's
Ek
Villain,
Varun
Dhawan's
Main
Tera
Hero,
Alia
Bhatt's
Highway
or
Alia
and
Arjun
Kapoor-starrer
2
States
-
they
set
the
stage
for
a
decent
year
in
the
first
six
to
eight
months,
by
not
just
recovering
their
money,
but
also
making
profits.
But
the
"second
half
was
a
major
disappointment
and
most
of
the
films
didn't
live
up
to
expectations," Rajesh
Thadani
of
Multimedia
Combines
told.
"This
year
was
very
bad...so
far," he
added.
Terming
2014
an
"average
year",
trade
analyst
Komal
Nahta
told,
"The
start
of
2014
was
good,
but
towards
the
end
there
was
a
downfall.
November
was
the
worst
month
for
the
film
industry
in
the
last
15
to
20
years.
All
the
films,
including
Happy
Ending,
The
Shaukeens
and
Kill
Dil
bombed."
Thadani
estimated
that
instead
of
adding
to
the
list
of
movies
making
their
way
into
the
Rs.100
crore
club,
November's
releases
contributed
to
a
loss
of
Rs.
100
crore
at
the
box
office
in
the
month.
"Nobody
was
expecting
this
kind
of
downfall
as
there
were
lots
of
expectations
with
few
films.
Even
Action
Jackson
has
not
been
up
to
the
mark,"
he
said.
Box
office-wise,
the
sunshine
in
the
gloomy
year
was
brought
by
seven
films
-
Jai
Ho
(approximately
Rs.110
crore),
Holiday:
A
Soldier
Is
Never
Off
Duty
(Rs.110
crore),
2
States
(Rs.105
crore),
Kick
(over
Rs.200
crore),
Bang
Bang
(Rs.145
crore),
Happy
New
Year
(Rs.188
crore)
and
Singham
Returns
(Rs.140
crore).
Two
other
films
which
inched
close
to
minting
Rs.100
crore
were
Ek
Villain
(Rs.96
crore)
and
Humpty
Sharma
Ki
Dulhania
(Rs.86
crore).
This
is
better
than
the
five
Rs.100
crore
spinners
of
last
year,
"but
still
we
can't
consider
this
as
great
business,"
said
Thadani.
His
comment
seems
justified
in
the
fact
that
these
were
high
budget
films
too.
Trade
expert
Vinod
Mirani,
"Raking
in
Rs.100
crore
is
not
a
benchmark
anymore
in
this
industry.
Besides,
the
films
that
have
crossed
Rs.100
crore
were
made
on
a
huge
budget,
so
they
have
not
made
any
profit.
They
have
merely
recovered
their
money.
In
short,
it
was
certainly
a
bad
year
for
the
industry."
Hindi
filmdom
forms
a
major
chunk
of
the
globally
popular
Indian
film
industry,
estimated
at
a
little
over
Rs.1,250
crore
in
2013,
according
to
the
FICCI-KPMG
Indian
Media
and
Entertainment
Industry
Report
2014.
Content-wise,
some
women-centric
movies
like
Mardaani,
Queen,
Mary
Kom,
Highway,
Dedh
Ishqiya
and
Revolver
Rani
came
to
the
fore,
as
did
films
like
Citylights,
Hawaa
Hawaai,
Jal,
Lakshmi
and
Haider,
which
found
critical
acclaim.
"Few
women-centric
films
have
done
well
and
that's
certainly
a
great
change,"
Manoj
Desai
of
Gaiety
Galaxy
told.
Adding
to
this
Thadani
said:
"Despite
being
a
purely
women-centric
film,
Highway
garnered
Rs.30
crore,
Mary
Kom
managed
Rs.54
crore,
Ragini
MMS
2
made
Rs.50
crore,
Queen
minted
Rs.55
crore
and
Mardaani
made
Rs.40
crore,
which
is
not
bad."
The
year
was
okay
for
small
and
medium
budget
entertainers
as
Shahid
Kapoors-starrer
Haider
collected
Rs.50
crore
at
the
box
office,
while
Amole
Gupte's
directorial
Hawaa
Hawaai
and
Hansal
Mehta's
Citylights
made
Rs.10
crore.
As
Desai
pointed
out,
the
damage
has
been
done
for
this
year.
And
now
all
eyes
are
stationed
on
PK,
which
brings
together
the
hit
3
Idiots
trio
of
Aamir,
director
Rajkumar
Hirani
and
producer
Vidhu
Vinod
Chopra.
One
wonders
if
it
will
salvage
the
state
of
the
Bollywood
box
office
when
it
releases
Dec
19.
"I
don't
think
one
film
is
going
to
change
the
fate
of
the
entire
year,
but
still
we
are
hopeful
about
PK,"
said
Desai,
while
Nahta
said:
"There's
a
lot
of
buzz
created
about
this
film,
and
we
are
hopeful
it
will
do
well."