Bollywood pins hope on big-budget releases to turn fortunes

With a slew of films lined up for release in the next few months including 'Kambhakt Ishq', 'Love Aaj Kal','Kaminey', and 'What's Your Rashee ?' the film industry is banking on these biggies to bring back the smiles, as the year has not been great for the industry in terms of box office success.
Yash Raj Films' 'New York' starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh hit the screens today. This will be followed by Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor starrer 'Kambakkht Ishq' on July 3 and Saif Ali Khan's debut production 'Love Aaj Kal' slated to release on July 31.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said that big budget releases will see the industry entering an exciting phase.
"The industry is keeping its fingers crossed and hoping for the best. One has to wait and see how the audience reacts to the biggies which will open in the coming weeks. 2009 has really been a bad year for Bollywood," he said.
"Audience tastes have changed and it is not just big films which will draw them. The biggest challenge is to get the them back to theatres in large numbers and only good content will get noticed," industry sources said.

In the last two weeks, since the stand off was resolved, only Subhash Ghai's 'Paying Guests' has been the major release. Even though critics have panned the film and dubbed it as a flop, Ghai has said the film has seen 80 per cent collections in the first week.
The other major movie releases in the next few months include Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra's 'Kaminey' directed by Vishal Bharadwaj on August 14, Ashutosh Gowariker's 'What's your Rashee?' starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja on September 25.
Dharma Productions' coming of age comedy 'Wake up Sid', with Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma will release on October 2 and the romantic comedy 'Main aur Mrs Khanna', starring Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor, will follow on October 16.
Ken Ghosh's dance musical starring Shahid Kapur and Genelia D'Souza and Rensil D Silva's 'Qurbaan', another movie from Dharma Productions starring Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi are scheduled for release on November 6 and 27 respectively.
David Dhawan's 'Hook Ya Crook', starring John Abraham and Genelia D'Souza is scheduled for release on December 11.

The New Year will witness the release of the ensemble comedy 'Seasons Greetings', with Tabu and Shreyas Talpade on January 1 and the political drama 'Rajneeti' starring Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar and Arjun Rampal is scheduled to release on January 22.
'Peter Gaya Kaam Se', a romantic thriller with Rajeev Khandelwal and 'Paan Singh Tomar', an epic bio-pic starring Irrfan Khan, release on February 12 and 26, respectively.
Deven Khote's directorial debut 'Phillum City', starring John Abraham, is lined up for release on March 12.