Special Article: Mid Year Report On Bollywood

By Filmi Fanatic

It’s that time of the year, yes, its July 2017, which means the time has come to review the Bollywood movies released in the past 6 months from January till July.

This year has been a mixed bag of sorts, the films that were thought won’t do well, kept the box office registers ringing and the films which were to hit the bulls eye with its blockbuster performance sank without a trace. So, here’s looking back at the months gone by with our special ‘Filmi Files’ report card:

a) BAAHUBALI 2

The first half of 2017 definitely belonged to the sequel Baahubali 2 which was made in Tamil, Telugu and later dubbed in Hindi. The magnum opus turned into a blockbuster thanks to the brilliant special effects and the action sequences. Infact the sequel fared better than the original and the Hindi version crossed the 500-crore mark too.

b) RAEES

People loved Shahrukh ‘bhai’ in Raees, his first release of 2017 where he played a bootlegger and it went on to become a hit. Now the audience is eager to see him in his ‘Punju’ singer avatar in Imtiaz Ali’s “Jab Harry met Sejal’. Would SRK’s magic work again?

c) KAABIL

When the films of two big stars release at the same time, either one of them becomes a hit or both flop, but not in the case of Hrithik starrer ‘Kaabil’ which clashed its release date with Raees but despite that did great business at the box office becoming another hit of 2017. The intense story of a blind man who avenges his girlfriend’s rape and death hit the right chords with the audience.

d) BADRINATH KI DULHANIA

Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt again proved that star kids can perform. The sequel Badrinath ki Dulhania showed their magic and chemistry and proved to be one of the top films. The audience loved the peppy numbers especially the recreated ‘Tamma Tamma Loge’ and the box office danced with the 200-crore mark.

e) JOLLY LLB 2

One can never go wrong with an Akshay Kumar starrer and Jolly LLB was just one of them. Portraying a lawyer, his performance was given thumbs up both by the audience as well as the critics. Now this is one man who is on a roll, give him any character and he plays it to the T.

While there have been films which kept the audiences hooked to their seats, some of the films that were thought to be blockbusters in making, could not adhere to the audiences’ expectations.

a) RANGOON

Vishal Bhardwaj’s highly ambitious period drama set in the pre-Independence era could not gather the interest despite boasting of stars like Shahid, Saif and Kangana. Despite the visuals, the film could not please the audience and was one of the disappointments of 2017

b) BEGUM JAAN

Touted as the Vidya Balan movie, this film had a very unusual story line and with its promos had garnered a lot of curiosity, but unfortunately despite the humungous star cast, it didn’t do well and slowly it has even started to fade from the memory of the audience.

c) TUBELIGHT

Salman Khan + Eid release = Sure Shot Blockbuster hit, but this year this Eid release did not match the expectations for a diehard Sallu Fan. Well, it can’t be touted as a flop, this movie has got mixed reviews, some liked the sober and childlike Salman while some thought it was the re run of his Bajrangi Avatar. Time for a makeover and having the action Salman back? Food for thought?

6 months of 2017 has had more of mediocre films like Raabta, Half Girlfriend, Noor and Philluri which created the much hype but unfortunately ran for a week or so before being replaced by another movie.

The audience is now waiting anxiously for the latter half releases which show some promising stuff in the form of SRK starrer ‘Jab Harry met Sejal’, Lipstick under my Burkha, Toilet -Ek prem katha and Mubarakan. Varied topics, varied movies, how they do at the box office. only time would tell. Till then sit back, enjoy and wait for our Yearly report of 2017.