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The most notable film to come during the period from last Diwali to this Diwali was Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots, starring Aamir Khan. It wrote box-office history which has not been erased by any film thereafter. Shankar’s Tamil film, Enthiran, starring Rajnikanth, was also a blockbuster, and if one were to consider the collections of its Telugu and Hindi dubbed versions (both titled Robot) too, the total would surpass the collections of 3 Idiots. But, of course, Enthiran needed four times thebudget of 3 Idiots to make! Like 3 Idiots, Enthiran also scored in a big way in the Overseas circuit. Another film whichhad the audience in the Overseas territory going ga ga was Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan, starring Shah Rukh Khan. However, its business in India was not a patch on that of 3 Idiots. The one film which came closest to 3 Idiots in India was Salman Khan’s Dabangg. It threatened to outdo 3 Idiots and even did so in its first week but since it lacked the sustaining power of Aamir’s film, it had to ultimately settle for around 25% less business as compared to 3 Idiots.
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Total Releases -246!
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A total of 246 films were released between Diwali 2009 and Diwali 2010. In the corresponding period last year (Diwali 2008 to Diwali 2009), there had been 240 releases. Of course, the number of weeks between Diwali 2008 and Diwali 2009 was 51 whereas it was 55 between the festival of lights in 2009 and 2010. Of the 246 films released, five were English films, 86 were dubbed from South or foreign languages, one was a Bengali-English film and 154 were made in Hindi. Of the 154 Hindi films, six were animation fares.
Hits & Flops
Among the noteworthy hits during the period under reference were 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Avatar (dubbed), 2012 – Pralay Ki Shuruaat (dubbed) and Peepli Live. All these films more than doubled the investment made in them. There were other films too which did well, but barely 18-20 films succeeded during the period, including the aforementioned five blockbusters.
The list of debacles between the two festive occasions was headed by Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna and Knock Out. Although Kites, Raavan and Rakht Charitra did not lose as much money as the earlier two named films, they came to be regarded as the dampest squibs because of the hype surrounding their release as also because of their massive budgets. The Tamil version of Raavan did very well whereas the Telugu version of Rakht Charitra was not as bad as the Hindi version. There were other disasters like London Dreams, Aladin, Kurbaan and Jhootha Hi Sahi, which lost the box-office race.
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