Audiences play gods

Bollywood buzz

Although 2014 saw some meaningful films, the box-office was marred by some senseless comedies and pointless action flicks. RAJIV VIJAYAKAR sums up the year of 200-crore films & the ones that left a lasting impact.

It is a tangy truth that just as Ajay Devgn was in agreement (separately) with Aamir Khan and lambasted producers’ tendency to fudge box-office figures, we see the makers of his Action Jackson claim great collections, when the film is actually nothing less than a disaster!

However, when any year ends with an Aamir Khan film, there is always that last-minute boom in business — check Taare Zameen Par (2007), Ghajini (2008), 3 Idiots (2009) and Dhoom:3 (2013). And this rather lukewarm year was no different. It ended with a mega-whopper in Rajkumar Hirani’s PK. Predictions are that the film will break all records.

So, why do we call this year “lukewarm” when eight films crossed the coveted domestic Rs 100 crore? As trade analyst Vinod Mirani reminds us, “A 100 crore film does not always mean a hit — it could be average or a losing proposition.” Mirani points out that the production and acquisition costs vary widely. And a hit by definition must make double the money invested.

Highest grossers & big hits

Sajid Nadiadwala was the filmmaker of the year as he produced four winners — Kick (his directorial debut as well), which was the only 200-plus crore domestic grosser and the year’s highest earner, 2 States (a 100 crore grosser that was a big hit because of its economic cost), Heropanti (a hit) and Highway (which won critical acclaim).

Happy New Year claimed to have crossed Rs 200 crore as well, and it was followed by Bang Bang!, Singham Returns, Holiday and Jai Ho!. But, from all these films, only Holiday was a hit, with the rest being average. From the non-superstar vehicles, Ek Villain crossed 100 crore to emerge as a bigger hit than 2 States.

The other definite hits were Gunday, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Heropanti, besides the wide-spectrum favourite Queen that, in terms of its budget, can be called a super-hit. The small-budget Yaariyan, Hate Story 2 and Ragini MMS 2 also made it here, thanks to low costs and a consequent high return of investment.

Other films that made it to the plus (some profit) or average (break-even) category were Main Tera Hero, Mary Kom, Hasee Toh Phasee, Mardaani, Kill Dil and Bhoothnath Returns.

The losers & media hits

The two films that sent shock-waves through the industry with their disastrous (quality and) fates vis-à-vis expectations were Sajid Khan’s Humshakals and Prabhudheva’s maiden flop Action Jackson. Other prominent losers were Akshay Kumar’s It’s Entertainment and The Shaukeens, Saif Ali Khan’s home production Happy Ending, Anil Kapoor’s production Khoobsurat, Kangana Ranaut’s follow-up to Queen that was Revolver Rani, Vikram Bhatt’s Creature 3D and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Dedh Ishqiya featuring Madhuri Dixit Nene.

All horror films right to the C-graders, the refurbished 3D version of Sholay, the dubbed Kochadaiiyaan, Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (launching Raj Kapoor’s grandson Armaan Jain) and the twin fiascos each of Emraan Hashmi (Raja Natwarlal, Ungli) and Vidya Balan (Bobby Jasoos and Shaadi Ke Side/Effects opposite Farhan Akhtar) also lost the battle as the fastidious yet multi-hued audiences played God.

The audience credo was simple: give either solid content or big stars, if not both, and so they wanted Queen as much as a 2 States, Kick and Ek Villain. The clear message was: As always, make the high ticket money and the entire movie-watching experience worth our while. Or…we will be indifferent!

The media, ever prone to catch the wrong end of the stick vis-à-vis this astute populace, declared Filmistaan (a fairly decent niche film), Highway (in which only Alia Bhatt stood out) and Haider (whose plus points were performances against a bevy of minus-es like projecting the Indian Army for the first time ever in a bad light) as “hits” without knowing even the trade mathematics!

As analyst Amod Mehra has been stating every year for long now, these three films were “media-hits” — those that only the media termed as successful!

Worthy but lost causes

Seven films were lost causes at the box-office for specific reasons. Chandraprakash Dwivedi’s (of Chanakya and Pinjar fame) Zed Plus, a funny satire on the common man versus the political system, had no marketing, music or face-value, Ketan Mehta’s Rang Rasiya was marketed wrongly as semi-erotica, the fable-like Hawaa Hawaai from Amole Gupte, the sassy Finding Fanny in English, the detective saga from the Rajshri banner, Samrat & Co., which suffered from miscasting and archaic marketing, Hansal Mehta’s Citylights that needed a more positive end and Yash Raj Films’ positive and cheerful Daawat-e-Ishq, all faced rejection.

The challengers

The star equations were at status quo, with Salman Khan and Deepika Padukone undisturbed at the top. Their chain of unbroken hits since 2012 continued, as Kochadaiiyaan’s dubbed version and the English Finding Fanny were not really Hindi films for Deepika.

The super six (Salman, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn) were comfortable, as were Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra Sonakshi Sinha and Kareena Kapoor Khan. Priyanka had a great year with the hit Gunday and her stunning performance in and as Mary Kom.

The star hierarchy underwent a striking change, though, with eight youngsters making a solid impact, creating a second prime layer of dependables that left everyone else — led by Ranbir Kapoor — in a kind of no-man’s-land.

These were led by Ranveer Singh, who consolidated his 2013-acquired star status with Gunday and Kill Dil. Varun Dhawan scored in both dad David Dhawan’s Main Tera Hero and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. Arjun Kapoor packed a wallop with Gunday, 2 States and Finding Fanny. Sidharth Malhotra made his mark with the gritty Ek Villain and Hasee Toh Phasee. Finally, Tiger Shroff carved his own niche with Heropanti.

And their damsels were no less: Alia Bhatt scored high in Highway, 2 States and Humpty…, Parineeti Chopra was extraordinary in Hasee Toh Phasee and Daawat-e-Ishq and also had Kill Dil, Shraddha Kapoor was good in Ek Villain and Haider and Kriti Sanon became a star with Heropanti.

Standing out

Market leader filmmakers Rajkumar Hirani (PK) and Rohit Shetty (Singham Returns) remained so. Farah Khan retrieved lost ground with Happy New Year, and Mohit Suri showed his class yet again with Ek Villain. However, Imtiaz Ali (Highway) and Vishal Bhardwaj (Haider) only added media-hits to their names!

Abhishek Varman (2 States) and Vinil Matthew (Hasee Toh Phasee) were easily the most promising new directors.

Kangana (Queen) and Rajkummar Rao (Citylights) deservedly won hosannas, but Lisa Haydon could not acquire star-status (after her bindaas act in Queen) with The Shaukeens. Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani and Sonu Sood (Happy New Year), Rani Mukerji (Mardaani), Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Kick), the ensemble cast of Finding Fanny (Dimple Kapadia, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Arjun and Deepika), Amrita Singh and Ronit Roy (2 States) and Govinda (Kill Dil, Happy Ending) headed the merit list of great performances. Of course, PK had some too.

Finally, music cut a sorry figure, and the wrong kinds of songs were created, largely by piecemeal music makers masquerading as composers. Lyrics like “Haan main alcoholic hoon”, “Baby doll”, “Char botal vodka”, “A for aao re aao” and more were picked up even by kids. In such a desert, the only musical oases were 2 States, Citylights, Daawat-e-Ishq and Main Tera Hero.

Here’s hoping, then, for a better fare for the gods – the auds! – in the coming year!