Bollywood report card 2009

The no-show by several big budget movies coupled with a two month-long stand-off between producers and multiplexes owners amid recession made 2009 a year which Bollywood producers and cinegoers would like to forget. Some 138 films were released this year, Kumar Mohan, Editor of Complete Cinema, a trade magazine told PTI.

Dec 29, 2009 01:16 IST

The no-show by several big budget movies coupled with a two month-long stand-off between producers and multiplexes owners amid recession made 2009 a year which Bollywood producers and cinegoers would like to forget. Some 138 films were released this year, Kumar Mohan, Editor of Complete Cinema, a trade magazine told PTI.

The year started badly with Chandni Chowk to China tanking at the box office despite the hype.
The other major flops of the year were Akshay Kumar starrer Tasveer, Blue, Delhi-6, London Dreams, Main Aur Mrs Khanna, Luck, Amitabh Bachchan starrer Aladin, Kurbaan and What's Your Rashee? .
Films like Wanted, Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, New York and Love Aaj Kal were the only hits of 2009.

However, the industry had some respite with Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots, which released on Christmas and is on its way to become a blockbuster.
Amitabh Bachchan's Paa, where the actor played the role of a 13-year-old child, has recovered its costs even though it has done well only in the metro cities.
Films like All the Best, Wake Up Sid!, and Dev D and Kambakkht Ishq were average grossers.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh told PTI that 2009 was the worst year in the recent history of Bollywood.
Industry experts say that some of the issues plaguing the Indian entertainment industry are supply of irrational investment leading to unsustainable cost structures, severe shortage of creative and management talent, lack of transparency in production spending as well as revenue collection, piracy and high taxation rates.
Lack of original quality content, for example, is one of the main reasons for 95 per cent box office failure rate of Indian films.

Kumar Mohan said the movies, which did good business at the box office this year were "fun films".
"The trend is mixed. If Wanted was an action thriller, Ajab Prem was a romantic comedy, Love Aaj Kal was a love story while New York had a background of 9/11 and terrorism," he said, adding that even though Saif-Kareena starrer Kurbaan had a backdrop of terrorism, it did not do well.
Trade sources say early 2010 will see release of films like Ramgopal Verma's Amitabh starrer Rann , Salman Khan's Veer and Shah Rukh Khan's My Name is Khan.
"These are big budgeted films and the industry has high hopes on these movies to make the cash registers at the box office ringing," he said.