#TutejaTalks: Bollywood Does Better Than 2016 In First Half Of 2017 - Is That Good Enough?

First half of 2017 is through and the season has closed with the arrival and disaster of Ek Haseena Thi Ek Deewana Tha. Around 50 films have released so far, 35 of these being notable, and in total 1540 crore has come at the Box Office. As a matter of fact this is pretty huge compared to what Bollywood had earned last year in the same time span when 1073 crore had come in. This isn't all as these numbers are also some of the best that the film industry has seen in last many years.

Let's look at 2016 first

Year 2016 had brought in 2990 crore from 100 odd films that had released. Out of this, 1073 crore had come in the first half and that was courtesy films like Airlift, Housefull 3, Fan, Baaghi, Neerja, Kapoor & Sons, Udta Punjab and Ki & Ka. While the first two in the list, both being Akshay Kumar starrers, hit centuries, rest all scored at least half a century. Each of these films was also a commercial success, barring Fan which stays on to be one of the lowest grossers ever of Shah Rukh Khan. All in all, it was a lukewarm first half of 2016

Things improved in the second half of 2016

There was a much better response in the second half of 2016 as biggies like Dangal, Sultan, M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story, Rustom and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil propelled Box Office fortunes by miles. Shivaay, Dishoom, Dear Zindagi and Pink collected as well, hence ensuring that 1917 crore more came in. That was an astonishing 80% (approx.) jump in numbers from first half to the second half of the year.

The manner in which 2017 has unfolded so far

Sitution has been much better for Bollywood in 2017 though. With 1540 crore coming in already, there is already a massive jump when compared to 1073 crore that had come in during the same time span last year. While 2016 had seen only two centuries during this period, 2017 had seen six centuries already [Baahubali 2 [Hindi], Raees, Jolly LLB 2, Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Tubelight, Kaabil]. Moreover, there have been three half centuries too [Hindi Medium, Half Girlfriend, Sachin - A Billion Dreams] and one decent earner Naam Shabana]. All in all, a much better success rate.

The Baahubali 2 factor

While the numbers do tell a story, it isn't the complete story. Here is the reason why. If one digs down the numbers, the biggest contributor to 1540 crore is Baahubali 2 [Hindi]. The dubbed Telugu film alone has brought in 510 crore! That is an astonishing 33% of the overall moolah that the ticket windows have generated so far. Remove this and the collections from Hindi films is a mere 1030 crore. That by the way is less than 1073 crore from the first half of 2016. A scary sign indeed.

The biggest debacles

Things wouldn't have been so bad had some of the more hyped films did better business. Tubelight was expected to bring in more than 300 crore, it has managed to just about cross the 100 crore mark. Raees opened well but couldn't sustain, hence underperforming too. Raabta and Rangoon turned out to be big ticket disasters. Ok Jaanu, Begum Jaan and Meri Pyaari Bindu couldn't bring in much moolah either. Sarkar 3, Noor and Machine failed miserably. All in all, Bollywood had the potential to bring in 300-400 crore more between these films but none of that happened.

 - Joginder Tuteja

To be continued [Watch out for this space as we bring to you Part II of this special feature and talk about what can be expected in the second half of 2017]