Mid-year assessment: It was a roller coaster ride for Bollywood

June is at the fag end and we almost have a mid-year report card of Bollywood. Though the year started on a dismal note, it picked up towards May and June.

This year, January was like a drought month and even movies starring big names did not interest the audience. As Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha starrer-'Tevar'- failed to take off, even the Horrex (horror + sex) formula did not work out for ‘Alone’ and ‘Khamoshiyan’.

Other movies that released in January and failed to make a mark included Sonam Kapoor-starrer ‘Dolly Ki Doli’, 'Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene', ‘Crazy Cukkad Family’, ‘Hawaizaada’ among others.

The only respite that the Bollywood lovers got was from Akshay Kumar’s ‘Baby’, which also became the first movie of 2015 to enter the Rs 100 crore club.

But the jinx did not end in January as February continued to bring more bad news for the industry.

The big shocker came in the form of ‘Shamitabh’. The movie, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush, was directed by R Balki, the maker who has given us movies like Pa and Cheeni Kum.

Later in the month, ‘Roy’ released, which recorded a good start but by weekend the movie fizzled out. Most trade pundits pegged the crucial India-Pakistan match at the World Cup as the reason for the drop of sales on Sunday but the movie could not recover much post this phase also because of negative word of mouth.

Thankfully, later in the same month we had movies like ‘Badlapur’ and ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’. Both managed to gather decent collections at the Box Office. In fact, ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ was a complete surprise package and managed to pull crowds even in its third week .

March threw a mixed bag as Anushka Sharma starrer 'NH-10' received critical acclaim. April again was a dry month as Bollywood had nothing to offer that could have clicked with the Bolly buffs.

However, Bollywood saw a turnaround in May. It started on a high note with Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Gabbar is Back’, which went to collect Rs 86.55 crore at the Box Office. This was followed by Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Irrfan Khan’s 'Piku', which struck a right chord with the audience and collected Rs 111 crore worldwide.

Later in the month, Kangana Ranaut wowed the audience with her spectacular acting in ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’. As per reports, the movie managed to collect Rs 190.87 crore worldwide. Given that the movie was made with Rs 31 crore budget, it stood out and is the most profitable movie of 2015 till date.

But, the disappointment came from ‘Bombay Velvet’. Everybody had high hopes from Ranbir Kapoor’s flick but it fell flat.

The momentum seems to continue with ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and ‘ABCD 2’. ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ has managed Rs 37.05 crore in the first weekend and is holding the fort well. Also ABCD 2, sequel of ABCD, managed to get the biggest opening for 2015 and continues to do a good business over the week.

The later half will see a slew of big- starrer movies such as Salman Khan starrer ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, Vikas Bahl of Queen fame’s ‘Shaandaar’, ‘Singh is Bling’ featuring Akshay Kumar, Nikhil Advani’s ‘Katti Batti’, Aishwarya Rai’s comeback movie ‘Jazbaa’ and also ‘Dilwale’ in which fans will see Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol paired together. In addition, there will also be a third installment of ‘Hate Story’, ‘Hera Pheri’ and ‘Kya Kool Hai Hum’ to look forward to.

Commenting on the movie sentiment of 2015, Komal Nahata, Trade Analyst shared, “It has been a good 2015 so far. Sure there were some upsets in the start of the year but May has been extremely kind and the rest of the year looks really promising."

We hope that the forthcoming movies get the cash ringer buzzing for Bollywood and we continue to see some entertaining movies in the latter half of the year.

(Image: Indiatimes)