Bollywood buckles. Under a load of criticism. There’s been talk. Of bad movies and flop films. The only consolation being that big brother Hollywood has been having an equally bad year. So far, 2017 has been a bleak year for the movie business. With biggies riding on bigger budgets and superstar names not making the B.O. rock. But before the Bollywood business was flushed down the toilet, it took Akshay Kumar’s ‘Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’ to break the jinx. And it is now followed up with the success of Varun Dhawan’s ‘Judwaa 2’ reprisal of a Salman Khan legend. This is probably the only other film that kind of drew in crowd curiosity.

By the end of it’s first week run, Judwaa 2 almost touched the 100 crore mark.

And over the weekend it not just surpassed the 100 crore mark, it also became Varun Dhawan’s highest solo grosser

Otherwise there have been five movies apart from Judwaa 2 and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha that’ve drawn audience warmth, but no one really set the turnstiles on fire. Hopefully, these mini-celebrations pre-Diwali can set some bonfires alight when the festive time comes upon us. At least Aamir Khan (‘Secret Superstar’) and Ajay Devgn (‘Golmaal4’) the Diwali arrivals, are hopeful.

While the dubbed version of ‘Bahubali 2’ crossed 500 crores – it’s not being considered a pure Bollywood production with B-Town stars was perhaps giving many industry producers sleepless nights. But now it looks like the tide has turned. With trade pundits predicting that ‘Judwaa 2’ might race ahead of the rest and be second to only ‘Bahubaali 2’ in net collections, it’s perhaps time to uncork the champagne.

Along with ‘Judwaa 2’ there are few more films in the 100 crore club, so what’s the ado about? Well, the fact that not one Bollywood film has managed to cross even 150 cr in 2017.  Salman Khan starrer ‘Tubelight’, being an Eid release, was expected to outdo it’s earlier records and perhaps ‘Bahubali 2’ & Dangal’s December 2016 collections of 374 crores. Given that his earlier releases in 2016 and 2015, ‘Sultan’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijan’ – both crossed 300 crores in net collections. But it turned out to be mere wishful thinking as ‘Tubelight’ barely crossed the 100 crore mark in net collections. Reports suggest that its gross 10 day collections were reported to be 200 crores worldwide but the film met with an alleged loss of 85.00 crores and Salman Khan apparently refunded 33.50 crores i.e. 40% of the losses incurred.

And though Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Raees’ opened to approx. 20 crores in day one collections, the clash with ‘Kaabil’ seemed to have dented some of the business in the long run. But the clash definitely cost ‘Kaabil’ more as the Hrithik starrer just stopped short of 100 cr net collections. ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ – SRK’s second film of 2017, met with a similar fate, failing to reach the 100 cr mark. Another big ‘un ‘Jagga Jasoos’ – with all the time and money and heartbreak spent on it, failed to touch the 100 milestone. No wonder then that there’s been so much talk of, ‘It’s been a bad year’. It has been, indeed. And until Bollywood gets its storytelling right and focuses less on promotions and more on narrative, the picture may remain as bleak as the Mumbai monsoon skies.

Meanwhile, here’s a look at the film’s that made it to the 100 crore club in 2017 –

Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion

Release Date: 28 Apr 2017
Nett Gross: Rs. 5,10,36,00,000

Bahubali 2Toilet – Ek Prem Katha

Release Date: 11Aug 2017
Nett Gross: Rs. 1,32,07,00,000

Toilet Ek Prem KathaRaees

Release Date: 25th Jan, 2017
Nett Gross: Rs. 1,28,77,50,000

Raees

Tubelight

Release Date: 23rd Jun, 2017
Nett Gross: Rs.1,14,57,00,000

Tubelight Salman Khan PosterBadrinath ki Dulhaniya

Release Date: 10th March 2017
Nett Gross: Rs. 1,14,11,50,000

Badri ki DulhaniaJolly LLB 2

Release Date: 10 Feb 2017
Nett Gross: Rs. 1,07,77,50,000

Jolly LLB 2BO Source: boxofficeindia.com

 

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