Guru
Don’t let
Om Shanti Om or
Chak De India fool you. It was actually a pretty quiet year for Bollywood. Yes, there were hits (
Guru,
Partner and
Heyy Babyy being the others that come to mind), but 2007 had its fair shares of turkeys too (
Saawariya,
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal,
Eklavya,
Aaja Nachle...). Says trade analyst Komal Nahta: “2007 was good for Hindi cinema but not as great a year as 2006 and box office collections will also be lower than in the previous year.” According to data collated by ibosnetwork.com, an online news and data service that focusses on the business of cinema, gross box office collections for the top 10 films in 2007 are estimated at Rs 640 crore, against investments of some Rs 490 crore. The corresponding figures for 2006: Rs 884 crore and Rs 400-450 crore. The good news? Smaller and offbeat films are finding takers, with movies like Honeymoon Travels, Life in a Metro and Bheja Fry doing pretty decently at the box office. In all, over 100 films— experimental, high budget, love stories, comedies, et al—were released in 2007. Here’s a quick run through two of the biggest hits.
The hits
Om Shanti Om
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone
Director: Farah Khan
Producer: Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment
This unabashed masala movie was a parody-cum-tribute to Indian films of the ’70s and ’80s. The film was made with a budget of Rs 35 crore, and grossed almost three times that amount at the box office.
Guru
Om Shanti Om
Starring: Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai
Director: Mani Ratnam
Producer: Mani Ratnam
Was the biggest hit of the first half of 2007. The film was about one man’s ambition and success, and how times have changed from the period immediately after the country’s independence to the present, and is said to be based on the life of the late petrochemicals’ tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani. Estimated budget: Rs 15 crore. Estimated box office collections: Rs 77 crore.
