Raked in the moolah:
The Rs 100-crore club in Bollywood had quite a few entrants this year. Some were predictable enough — When was the last time a Salman Khan release didn’t make it to the coveted coterie? Others, like the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu and the dance film ABCD2 were pleasant surprises. Here’s a quick list of all the films that earned box office collections in excess of Rs 100 crore:
Bajrangi Bhaijaan: Rs 320 crore
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo: Rs 207 crore
Tanu Weds Manu Returns: Rs 152 crore
Dilwale: Rs 127 crore (at the time of going to press)
Bajirao Mastani: Rs 126 crore (at the time of going to press)
ABCD 2: Rs 105 crore
Almost made it: Baby (Rs 95cr); Welcome Back (Rs 94cr); Singh Is Bliing (Rs 90cr) — figures indicate all-India collections.
Raked in the acclaim abroad: Masaan, Court and Angry Indian Goddesses
It was a good year for Indian cinema on the international stage. Neeraj Ghaywan’s haunting Masaan first got a five-minute standing ovation from the notoriously difficult-to-please audience at the Cannes Film Festival; then, it scooped up two prestigious awards — the FIPRESCI, International Jury of Film Critics prize and the Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section. When it opened in Indian theatres, filmgoers couldn’t stop raving about the pitch-perfect performances by cast members like Shweta Tripathi and Vicky Kaushal.
The international press had already raved about Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court in 2014, but it finally released in India only this April. The drama, which laid bare the flaws of the Indian judicial system, quickly snapped up the Best Feature Film prize at the 62nd National Awards and was chosen as India’s official submission in the Best Foreign Language Film Category for the Oscars. Court didn’t make the final cut, but its triumph is in no way lessened.
Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses was labelled “India’s first female buddy film” and at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award. On the home front, however, it ran into trouble with snip-happy censors, which wanted certain “profane references” cut out.
Also appreciated
These films didn’t do mega-bucks business, but for filmgoers, they certainly accounted for the best films of 2015. Smaller films like Badlapur, Talvar, Titli and Manjhi were high on intensity and realism and left the competition in the dust in terms of their cinematic quality.
Badlapur presented an unseen facet of Varun Dhawan while Talvar shone a spotlight on the disturbing facts of the Aarushi Talwar murder case, rather than its sensationalism.
Bajirao Mastani was among the few Rs 100-crore hits to also receive critical appreciation this year, with most of the kudos coming in for Ranveer Singh’s no-holds-barred portrayal of Peshwa Bajirao. Sweet success indeed for the cast and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Disappointed: Bombay Velvet, Jazbaa, Shaandar and Shamitabh
These were supposed to be the big films of 2016. Bombay Velvet was Anurag Kashyap’s labour of love, it was the film that was supposed to set Ranbir Kapoor’s career back on track. Instead, Bombay Velvet crashed and burned.
So did Shaandar — after its promos opened to great buzz. Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s chemistry seemed cute, and the film itself quirky, but Vikas Bahl’s second film after Queen suffered from a weak script and lost the plot at the box office. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s much-vaunted comeback, Jazbaa, proved to be a damp squib, while Shamitabh — which brought together the hit pair of R. Balki and Amitabh Bachchan — also fizzled out.
