Bright start to the second half of 2008!
July 8, 2008 1:01:13 PM IST
Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network
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At the half way mark, it is, perhaps a telling indicator of the box-office fortunes of the industry that Aamir Khan's Production, JAANA TU... YA JAANE NA may only be the fourth hit of 2008. Just to elaborate, during the first six months, as many as 114 films released, out of which 66 were original Hindi movies. But the industry could boast of only two big hits in the form of RACE and JODHAA AKBAR and just one super-hit, JANNAT. There were a couple of average to above average films like BHOOTHNATH and MERE BAAP PEHLE AAP. Of course, there were some shoestring budget ventures which made a mark at the ticket window like MITHYA, SHAURYA, KHUDA KAY LIYE and the latest AAMIR, but even in those cases the returns were not substantial enough for the distributors to feel overjoyed.
The year had big disappointments in the form of Rajkumar Santoshi's HALLA BOL which was a disaster and Ajay Devgan's directorial debut venture, U ME AUR HUM, just about breaking even. But the biggest shock came from Yash Raj Films, whose (what seemed) destined to succeed TASHAN sank without a trace. And of course, Ram Gopal Varma's SARKAR RAJ too could not live up to the hype and expectation and ended up as a loser at the box-office, for most of its distributors.
However, things appear bright, as with the second best start of the year (after RACE) for Imran Khan's JAANE TU...YA JAANE NA, the industry is getting into the optimistic groove yet again. And this mood should continue as big movies like SINGH IS KINNG, GHAJINI, DRONA, WANTED DEAD AND ALIVE and RAB NE BANA DI JODI are all set to release and so there are hopes of a fantastic conclusion to an otherwise dull year.
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