The story appears on

Page A11

December 27, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

HomeWorld

Bollywood rediscovers winning formula

BOLLYWOOD struck gold in 2011, revving up lackluster box offices in India with help from its leading men who wooed audiences back to cinemas after a dismal 2010.

Domestic revenues hit 19.25 billion rupees (US$363.2 million) this year - up from 14.5 billion rupees in 2010 - and an unprecedented four films crossed the billion rupee milestone. Two of those blockbusters starred actor Salman Khan.

The solid performance contrasted with the previous year when there were few hits.

"Audiences and filmmakers have gone back and discovered stories that are close to our Indian roots," said Sanjeev Lamba, chief executive of Reliance Entertainment, which produced two of the year's biggest blockbusters - "Bodyguard" and "Singham."

"Bodyguard," in which Khan plays a personal security guard to a rich man's daughter and falls in love with her, was the most successful Bollywood film, raking in more than 1.5 billion rupees at domestic box offices.

"Singham" tells the story of a police officer who stands up to corruption, and features plenty of romance, drama and high-octane action.

Both were panned by critics but loved by audiences. And both feature strong characters, harking back to the 1980s and early 90s in Bollywood when films centred on the hero and his defeat of a villain.

Other themes were successful, too. Offbeat films like "The Dirty Picture," based on the life of a soft-core porn star, proved to be sleeper hits and took analysts by surprise.

But hyped superhero movie "Ra.One" was a let-down, bringing in 1.2 billion rupees in net box office - barely its official budget.





 

Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

娌叕缃戝畨澶 31010602000204鍙

Email this to your friend