Bollywood flop card for the 1st Quarter: So far, so bad!

The Bollywood Report card for the first quarter of 2009 can be marked in RED. With flops written all over, not a single movie has done good business from January to March' 2009(the first quarter). Movies like Chandni Chowk to China, Dilli 6, Luck By Chance, Billu, Dev D, Dhoondtey Reh Jaaogey, Victory, Luck By Chance have done bad to mediocre business. Movies like Billu, though appreciated by the masses could not recover their investment. Only the two horror flicks Raaz 2 and 13 B have done above average business. 13 B, is the only film that should be lauded because it was above expectations, thanks to good content in spite of the fact that it had no major star or marketing muscle.

Bollywood 2008 which ended with a bang courtesy Aamir Khan's Ghajini and SRK's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, have again nosedived. The movies to release in the immediate future, are : The Bipasha starrer, Aa Dekhen Zara; Yash Raj films' New York, Subhash Ghai's Paying Guest, Mukesh Bhatt's Jashnn, Sanjay Gupta's The Great Indian Butterfly and Vishal Bharadwaj's Kaminay.

However the fate of the above films also does hang in balance because of the rift between the producers and the multiplex owners. There is a loss of revenue in the media also which undertakes the promotion, marketing and packaging of film; viz, radio, TV or print. As one member of the United Forum puts it, if the strike goes on for another 3 months, the movie and the media stands to lose another Rs.500 crores.