Bollywood
Mumbai, November 8 - For the first time in many many years, the Diwali festival in 2020, went without a single big release for the Indian film industry, all because of the covid-19 pandemic that brought the world to its knees. Things, however, have become much easier a year later, and the film industry is rejoicing like it always used to be. ##
The year 2021 can be defined in two phases for the film industry, first, before the second covid wave, and second, after the second wave. The first phase was much bigger than the second one (as of now) in terms of the box office business. During that period, there were some big stars' films as well as mid to low-budget films that surprised with the box office numbers and became one of the biggest box office stories of the year. ##
During the first phase, Thalapathy Vijay's Tamil actioner "Master" was the highest-grossing film, and the only Indian film of 2021 so far to cross ₹ 200 crores worldwide. It became a box office blockbuster and generated ₹ 223 crores at the global box office. Superstar Pawan Kalyan's Telugu flick "Vakeel Saab", which is the remake of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer "Pink", was another film to cross ₹ 100 crores at the box office. ##
While the aforementioned films featured one of the biggest stars of Indian cinema, films like "Uppena", "Jathi Ratnalu", and "Naandhi", among a couple of others, haven't been led by big names but became box office blockbusters. Combined, the first phase generated a little over ₹ 1000 crores, which is nice as it gave something to cheer to the film industry, but was still far behind from what it used to be in the pre-covid era. ##
The second phase has begun on a much bigger promising note and looking way brighter going forward. After the second wave, the Telugu movie "Love Story" starring Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi, became the first superhit grossed nearly ₹ 60 crores worldwide. Sivakarthikeyan's Tamil movie "Doctor" has turned out to be one of the true box office stories and became the first ₹ 100 crores grosser after the second wave. ##
However, it was the Diwali festival, that truly set the ball rolling, especially, for the Hindi film industry in form of "Sooryavanshi". With a combined total domestic gross of over ₹ 220 crores during the Diwali weekend (Thu-Sun), the festival of lights is really turning out to be the biggest hope for the film industry. ##
Superstar Rajinikanth's long-awaited "Annaatthe" was finally released on November 4 and it set the box office on fire. With over ₹ 96 crore gross in the first 4-days (Thu-Sun), Siva-directed gained the top spot over the weekend, followed by another most-awaited Bollywood biggie "Sooryavanshi", which grossed ₹ 92 crores in just 3-days (Fri-Sun) at the Indian box office. ##
"Sooryavanshi" was always looked at as the potential blockbuster and it performed in that way. Director Rohit Shetty and Akshay Kumar waited for more than 18 months to bring this cop-drama to the big screens and their wait literally paid off in the best way possible. It has already become the highest-grossing Bollywood film since the beginning of the pandemic. ##
Marvel Studios regains its supremacy at the Indian box office with its latest superhero offering "Eternals". Despite the limited release and tough competition in North and South, Chole Zhao-directed was the third-best film during the Diwali weekend and grossed ₹ 22.2 crores over the weekend (Fri-Sun). Among the other top grosser, Tamil movie "Enemy" nabbed 4th spot with ₹ 16.10 crores in the 4-day weekend (Thu-Sun). ##
Talking about Akshay Kumar-fronted "Sooryavanshi", it was the best foot forward by Bollywood to revive the box office business and it has passed this test in flying colors. The success of "Sooryavanshi" has come at a time when Bollywood will be releasing a number of films in the next 6-7 months. The next in the slate is YRF's "Bunty Aur Babli 2" on November 19, followed by John Abraham's "Satyameva Jayate 2" and Salman Khan and Ayush Sharma's "Antim: The Final Truth" on November 25 and 26, respectively. ##
Stay tuned...
