Hindi Movies in 2009
Last year was a destructive year for Hindi movies. Bollywood had a tough 2009. Some big time movies were supposed to be made but that did not pan out. This left audiences upset and movie theatre owners impatient and frustrated. It also did not help in that a recession was underway. This was not a perfect storm because the business is still solvent and in motion but it was several body blows.
Overall, about 138 films were bought to the market place. What started off 2009 in such a despicable shape was Chandni Chowk suffering at the box office despite its hype and amplified marketing pitch. The pretty bollywood actress Deepika Padukone in this film was not enough to entice moviegoers to lineup and purchase tickets for this movie.
Other duds of last year were Tasveer, Blue, London Dreams, Aladin, Luck, What’s Your Rashee, Main Aur Mrs Khanna, Kurban and Delhi-6. Some of these were supposed to big successes, others moderately popular, but it did not pan out for any of them. This could have been for any number of reasons.
The films that kept the Indian movie business in 2009 from facing a perfect storm were New York, Wanted, Love Aajkal, and Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani. The magnificent triumph for Bollywood was Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots which hit theatres at Christmas and which did rake in some wonderful earnings. Amitabh Bachchan did pretty well as a 13 year old teenager in the movie Paa finally broke even despite only proving itself in the metro cities.
Taran Adarsh is someone who studies trade stated that 2009 was the most pathetic year in Bollywood in the last twenty years or so. There was a divide between the producers of the films and the owners of the giant movie theatres. This was ugly enough to prevent any movies from being shown for 2 months, at least Indian movies. It also did not help that the movies that did make it to market were weak. This damaged the credibility of the entire industry. It was not always the fault of the movies themselves, the swine flu did not help at all.
Something that could help the Hindi Films industry is to confront and decrease the amount it costs to produce a film. This is from a prominent voice in the industry, Manmohan Shetty, who is the chief of the Film and Television Producters Guild of India (FTPGI).
