Thumbs Up To Bollywood's First Quarter That Was!
The year has started on a great note with big releases like 'Airlift' and 'Neerja' which made it to the box office hits club and films like 'Aligarh' and 'Wazir' which did not earn as much money as a box office hit would but did pretty well with the cinema lovers and critics. Thus, it would not be wrong to say that this quarter of the year has set the bar really high and we are expecting the 'films to come' will do even better.
One of the biggest opening films (critically acclaimed though) of the year was Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar starrer 'Wazir'. The film got mixed reviews from the regular film viewing audience and the gross collection of the film till date has been Rs 40.72 crore, as per a report in Indicine. One thing that can be argued for Wazir is that keeping in mind the 'pre-buzz release' the film managed to earn through word of mouth. However, this mysterious and intriguing thriller made it to the list of good films of 2016.
Another big release of this year came in the very first month of 2016 and the film did well phenomenally well at the box office.
This Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur starrer 'Airlift' came on the Republic Day weekend and the film earned a whopping Rs 94.50 crore in nine days of its release. The film was about the evacuation of 1,70,000 Indians from Kuwait struck the right emotional Indian nerve.
The next month was nothing less. February was booked with films like 'Neerja' and 'Aligarh', where the former was talking about the girl with the nerves of steel who gave up her life saving the life of over 350 passengers, the latter was a professor's struggle for his identity. Neerja was both, critically and a box office hit, while Aligarh managed to attract cinema lovers and critics, but the film definitely spoke took the conversation about homosexuality forward.
According to movie critic and analyst, Taran Adarsh, Neerja's total collection as on 24th march 2016 was Rs. 74.91 crore.
And as the quarter closed we had yet another big film starring an ensemble cast of Fawad Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rajat Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor.
'Kapoor & Sons' did really well at the box office and thoroughly entertained the audiences. The film revolves around the story of a dysfunctional family which was so relatable that people loved it. Plus with 'Kapoor & Sons' mainstream cinema took a step forward in the right direction. The film gathered love and a total amount of Rs 65.07 crore.
With so many good films this year, we have got habitual to good cinema and we hope the 'films to come' will not disappoint us. Hence, we await the arrival of films that will surprise and entertain us!