Bollywood Has Hopes Hinging On Women Power And Content In The Second Half Of 2017

In Part I of this series (Bollywood does better than 2016 in first half of 2017 - Is that good enough?) I spoke about Box Office fortunes were propelled primarily due to Baahubali 2 [Hindi] opening the 500 Crore Club. This was followed by Part II (Bollywood eyes second half of 2017 to restore credibility) where I put my money on the Big Five [Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn] and the young ones [Varun Dhawan, Ranveer Singh, Sidharth Malhotra, Arjun Kapoor, Tiger Shroff] to keep the fire burning at the Box Office.

Presenting the Part III where I opine how women power and content would have a major role to play in sustaining the Box Office fortunes for Bollywood.

Women are back in action

Last few years have seen a surge in films being made that have a leading lady as the central protagonist. The success ratio may be skewed but then the same has been the case with male centric films as well. In the second half of the year, at least half a dozen female led films are releasing one after another. Mom has already hit the screens and reaffirmed the credentials of Sridevi all over again. Current generation has been exposed to the talent that the veteran actress carries. Kirti Kulhari would be seen in Madhur Bhandarkar's Indu Sarkar and the Pink girl would be seen in an out and out dramatic avtar again.

Shraddha Kapoor has been accused of playing similar characters one film after another. All of that should change with Apoorva Lakhia's Haseena Parkar, the promo of which has made a good impression. Kangana Ranaut goes solo yet again after the multi-starrer Rangoon and one waits to see how she has taken a commercial route with Hansal Mehta who has made quite a few offbeat films in a row.

As a franchise Hate Story has relied on the erotica quotient, courtesy its leading ladies, and the same is expected in Hate Story 4 also after the 50 crore success of Hate Story 3. As for Vidya Balan, she is now due for a good commercial success and that is expected to happen now with Tumhari Sulu where she has an author backed role to play.

Content should make a difference too

The story of the nuclear test done at Pokhran had made headlines many years back. However, no filmmaker had ever thought about bringing it on screen and that too in a commercial format. That is happening now with KriArj and Abhishek Sharma's Parmanu – The Story of Pokhran which is a dramatic thriller in the offering.

Arjun Rampal has excelled when it comes to playing a brooding part on screen and with Daddy, he has got ample opportunity to go all out in that avtar, courtesy the fact that he is playing gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli in the film that is also produced by him. As for those who always wondered if there was a conspiracy behind the India-Pakistan partition back in 1947, director Gurinder Chadha promises to expose it all with Partition: 1947.

Each of these films boasts of some never-seen-before content that should keep the ball rolling.

Strike back in the waiting

Saif Ali Khan has been in the industry for around 25 years now and is due for a big one. After the success of Cocktail and Race 2 he may have seen a few. However, he has three distinct films lined up for release [Chef, Kaalakandi, Baazaar] and one just hopes that audiences warm up to these films.

On the other hand veterans Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol, who came even earlier by around a decade, are in for a big screen comeback now. Sanjay Dutt has given his all to Bhoomi and one waits to see what he brings on screen with this dramatic affair. A lot about his future engagements would rely on the Box Office reception that this Omung Kumar film gets. As for Sunny Deol, he is coming back with brother Bobby Deol in comic social Poster Boys which also sees Shreyas Talpade make his debut as a director in Bollywood. If inside reports are to be believed, this one is indeed a rib tickling entertainer in the offering.

- Joginder Tuteja

To be continued [Watch out for this space as we bring to you the concluding Part IV of this special feature and talk about Bollywood is expected to wise up on the decisions that it takes during rest of the year]