The year not started with a happy note, but it is surely ended its first half with a big bang. The business booms to a large extend for the relief of the theatre owners, the producers, the actors and of course for the paying public.
Top 10 Box office collections (Weekly Average of average per print, All India).
1. Fanaa 5, 52, 472
Rang De Basti 5, 49, 653
Krrish 4, 70, 221
Phir Hera Pheri 4, 28, 544
36 China Town 3, 19, 510
Malamaal Weekly 3, 15, 749
Taxi No 9211 2, 62, 047
Chup Chup Ke 2, 10, 756
Gangster 1, 83, 315
Pyare Mohan 1, 72, 934
I have considered the first 3 week collection as it will be a good indication of the overall performance. (In the original post, I have placed Krrish in the 2nd spot on assumption, but the rain in Mumbai and north affected its collections. It needed to mention that Krrish has record collections in many places, but the number of prints bring down its average. However, if you consider the cost of the film, it is justified)
The above figures are extracted from indiafm box office reports (tabulated as my own).
January saw the success of Rang De Basti, February - Taxi No 9211, March – Malamaal Weekly, April – Gangster & Pyare Mohan, May – Fanaa & 36 China Town June – Krrish, Phir Hera Pheri & Chup Chup Ke.
Best films in my opinion.
Rang De Basti
Gangster
Chup Chup Ke
Fanaa
Malamaal Weekly
Taxi No 9211
Chingari & Banaras require special mention for their attempt to try different subjects. if they had taken little more care in the crafting, these films could have been done better in quality and collection.
ACTOR/ACTRESS
Amir Khan steals the show all the way. Hrithik Roshan did a good performance in Krrish as well. Sanjay Dutt made his presence felt. I don’t consider Paresh Rawal’s role in Malamaal weekly as a comic one, so I will even consider him for the top spot. But, it is definitely Amir all the way in the first half. Names of Nana Patekar, Shiny Ahuja, Om Puri and Mithun Chakrabarthy need special mention. Rajpal yadav delivered a top class comic performance in Chup Chupke like the one delivered by Paresh Rawal in Hera Pheri.
Kajol, Katrina, Kangna and Kareena 4 Ks had to sort out the glory of the leading lady along with Sushmitha Sen. In a close run, Kareena and Katrina may give their way for Kajol, Kangna and Sushmita Sen to the best 3. Dimple’s small role in Banaras require a special mention.
DIRECTOR
RAKEYSH OMPRAKASH MEHRA (Rang De Basti), RAKESH ROSHAN (Krrish), ANURAG BASU (Gangster), MILAN LUTHRIA (Taxi No 9211) & PRIYADARSAN (Malamaal Weekly & Chup Chup Ke) can fight for the best director spot. But my pick is Anurag Basu for Gangster.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
2006 gave a mixture of films both for the classes and the masses. Films for the masses produced good business, but I am not happy with the films for the classes. And in my opinion, the growth of bollywood will depend how fast it increase the middle class films, which can be enjoyed by the classes and masses.
The class films should take care of their quality of the subject, relevance of the subject, perfection in screenplay, acting and direction. The films for the masses should insist that there is quality involved in it. Also we have to remember that we have to compete in the global front. We have to make films of world class. If a good film is made in Hindi, its market is not limited to India. But the problem is that the quality of our films not improving. We are running in the same circle. One star, one production house, one big media hype, a large number of prints to secure the first week collections. If one not to follow these, they should be ready to eat the dust. But this tendency should be changed. We should make films to run in theatres for more than a month.
Whether it is comedy, romance, action, kids or whatever may be the genre, we should thrive to make films of quality. How long back do you see a Hindi film made for kids? What about sports? Where are the scientific fictions? When did you saw last a good horror film? There are many areas we have to explore. But we have limited number of actors, limited number of production houses, limited production values and what you have to pull down other films. We need good writers to write good stories, inspiring, touching stories. We have to have quality directors who can present the story well. We need production houses with a vision. We need to improve the standards of enjoyment.
Films like Gangster, which maintained the quality and still gave entertainment, Rang De Basti for the special mix of past and present, Taxi No. 9211 for its life touch, Chingari for the filming a classic story, Banaras a journey to your own peace and philosophy of life and Malamaal Weekly an attempt to find comedy in the deep of poverty. However, all these films could only make a relief and not to proclaim the glory of the good films, but reinstated that the Bollywood is still running after the box office. The day Bollywood improve the production values and promote middle class films, the golden era will begin.
It is not correct to stop this review without mentioning a word on the flops, though I don’t like to say. It is the duty of the producers and directors to make sure that their product is sold. However, it is their first duty to make sure that the product is good. Most of the producers don’t know how to keep the quality and the rest of the failure producers don’t know how to sell their product. It is not to take away the responsibility of the directors, writers, actors and technicians, but a film is the ambition of a producer or director that is giving birth to a film. I think bollywood can listen from the failures of Sawan, Thatastu, Ankahee & Darna Z.... though there are bigger failures.
The first half of 2006 give us glimpses of hope like Krrish, Banaras, Malamaal Weekly etc. But it also reinstated our inability to cope ourself for perfection. However, a beginning, whatever small is a beginning and a hope that lead bollywood to a long way.