Hitting the bull's eye

For years, the 2001-hit Gadar — Ek Prem Katha was the all-time box office topper with a collection of Rs 75 crore.  Then, Aamir Khan’s Ghajini first breached the Rs 100 crore mark in 2008. This was followed by yet another Aamir movie ‘3 Idiots’ in 2009 that cross the Rs 100 crore mark.

The year 2010 too saw blockbusters with Dabangg and Golmaal 3 striking gold at the box office. But it also had big budget flops like ‘Kites’ and Veer. So what is the secret behind Bollywood’s current success? Says Kamal Jain of Eros, “The average is growing because the number of screens has gone up. And the content is being planned to attract audiences and timed well too. Look at ‘Bodyguard’. It stumped up Rs 100 crore in seven days because it banked on the five-day Eid weekend — and the Salman-Eid magic worked once again for the third time.”

The movie’s co-producer and Salman’s brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri says, “Salman is a larger-than-life hero and that’s what we presented in ‘Bodyguard’.” Similarly, Ra.One too is slotted for release during the five-day Deepavali holiday while ‘Don 2’ will be a Christmas release.