Update of Bollywood in 4th Quarter of 2016

The last quarter of this year was the biggest one with three 100 cr Hits and one Aamir Khan release which has already crossed 150 cr mark in just 5 days and have all the potential to become the highest grosser of all time.
Let's do a quick recap of Q4 2016.

October
The month of October had a bumper start with #MSDhoniTheUntoldStory. It was the biopic

of one of the most loved captain of Indian cricket team Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was one of the most eagerly awaited movies of this year and it got a bumper opening with a huge 21cr on opening day and 66 cr in its first weekend. This craze proved once again that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is really a big brand who can assure a big opening of the level of Big Bollywood stars. The movie was wonderfully made by Neeraj Pandey and the solid performance by Sushant Singh Rajput in the title role was highly appreciated. This movie kept doing excellent business and became the third highest grosser of 2016 with a lifetime collection of 133 cr.
It was followed by a Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's #Mirzya , a contemporary take on folk tale of "Mirza Sahiba" . This movie was awaited because it marked the debut of Anil Kapoor's son Harshvardhan Kapoor along with debutante Sayami Kher. But in spite of the support and back up of industry insiders, Harshvardhan's debut turned out to be one of the biggest disasters of this year.

Next highlight of this month was the big clash on the Diwali weekend between two biggies Karan Johar's #AeDilHaiMushkil and Ajay Devgan's #Shivaay. Though both the movies

were different from each other in terms of concept and treatment, still they have to fight with each other to grab audiences attention. Both movies got good opening because of the big expectation and holiday seasons but after watching these movies both audience and critics were disappointed. As a result after getting a good opening collections dropped for both the movies from second week onward.Although people could not connect with the emotional one sided love story of #AeDilHaiMushkil but the performances of Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma and the music by Pritam were highly appreciated. On the other hand the main highlight of #Shivaay were the exceptionally well picturization of Himalayas and the wonderfully designed high voltage action sequences.
On final run, #AeDilHaiMushkil win the fight by a safe margin with a collection of 112 cr at domestic box office where #Shivaay just managed to enter 100 cr club , even in the worldwide business #AeDilHaiMushkil was much ahead of #Shivaay. 

November
The month of November begin with back to back flop sequels starting with #RockOn2 ,

#TumBin2 followed by #Force2. #RockOn2 tried to take the story forward from where it was ended in the first part with the same cast with an addition of Shraddha Kapoor but this time it failed to connect with the audience. Neither the story nor the music was that much impressive compared to the first part. #TumBin2 was almost a remake of the first part with fresh new cast. #Force2 was a spy thriller dealing with global terrorism. Among these three #Force2 get comparatively better response but in the long run all three were big flops. There were two main reasons , first of all these movies were not as good as the prequels and secondly these movies were partially affected by the Govt's decision of demonetization which forced people to cut off there luxuries like watching movies because of the lack of cash available in hand. 

This bad phase ended with #DearZindagi, the last release of November. It was a simple heart touching story of a young ambitious  girl who is fighting with challenges in her personal and professional life and finally how she learns to overcome it with the help of a therapist. This movie had been produced by Karan Johar and directed by Gauri Shinde. It featured Alia Bhatt and Shahrukh Khan in the lead roles but in spite of having such big names associated with it , this movie was promoted as a simple small film where the content was the main USP not the stars. Both Alia Bhatt and Shahrukh Khan did fabulous job along with the supporting cast and this movie make its way to everyone's hearts which helped it to became a hit with a collection of 67 cr, which is profitable enough considering the small budget of the film. This movie was also got much acknowledgment for addressing an important but ignorant topic that is to take care of mental health.


December
The month of December started with one of the highly awaited film of recent times

#Kahaani2. #Kahaani had set a benchmark for thrillers so when the same combo of director Sujoy Ghosh and actress Vidya Balan came together it set sky high hopes automatically. But unfortunately the film was not up to the mark to our expectations. First of all it was not at all a thriller and a perfect successor of #Kahaani, rather it was an emotional story of a mother and daughter which was trying desperately to be qualified as a thriller. The only good thing about the movie was the brilliant acting by the leading lady Vidya Balan. No doubt it was a big flop, in spite of getting comparatively better start. Another good thing was the way it had handled a sensitive issue of child abuse but unfortunately that issue lost somewhere while trying to make it a thriller forcefully. We wish the team had made it just as a emotional drama and not as a sequel to #Kahaani.

The second week saw a similar incident when another much hyped film #Befikre flopped to match the expectations from the big director behind the movie Aditya Chopra. When Aditya Chopra decided to come back to director's seat we obviously expect yet another classic from him. On the contrary to that what we found in this Ranveer Singh and Vaani Kapoor starer, that was just a regular boy meets girl story who are not ready to commit in relationship but finally falls in love. This is one age old story which has been told so many times even three four times under Yashraaj banner itself. The only good thing about the movie was the highly energetic performance by Ranveer Singh and some superb dancing by the lead pair.

Finally Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan arrived as a savior to Bollywood with his Christmas release #Dangal which was based on the real life story of Haryanvi wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat who gave training to her daughters Geeta and Babita to became world champion wrestlers. There is no doubt this Nitesh Tiwari directed film is one of the best film of recent times. Aamir Khan is no doubt the biggest USP of the film which has helped it to earn more than 150cr in just five days. Apart from Aamir Khan the other positive factors about this movie is the story which had blended entertainment with social message about women up-liftment and patriotism , brilliant performances by the whole cast and the hard work of the crew to make the film and the wrestling matches look absolutely authentic. This movie has already broken some record and we are hopeful that it will enter 350cr mark to be the biggest grosser of all time.



Overall the last quarter was very good in terms of business and now we are eagerly waiting for the big releases of next year. Hope 2017 will be be a bigger one for Bollywood.

Best Film of Q4 2016

• MSDhoni The Untold Story
• Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Dear Zindagi
• Dangal

Best Director of Q4 2016

• Neeraj Pandey - MSDhoni The Untold Story
• Karan Johar - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Gauri Shinde - Dear Zindagi
• Nitesh Tiwari - Dangal

Best Actor of Q4 2016

• Shushant Singh Rajput - MSDhoni The Untold Story
• Ajay Devgan - Shivaay
• Ranbir Kapoor - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Shahrukh Khan - Dear Zindagi
• Ranveer Singh - Befikre
• Aamir Khan - Dangal
• Tahir Raj Bhasin - Force 2
• Farhan Akhtar - Rock On 2
• Purab Kohli - Rock On 2

Best Actress of Q4 2016

• Anushka Sharma - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Alia Bhatt - Dear Zindagi
• Vidya Balan - Kahaani 2
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Sana Fatima Sheikh - Dangal
• Sanya Malhotra - Dangal
• Sakhshi Tanwar - Dangal

Top Songs of Q4 2016

• Koun Tujhe - M S Dhoni The Untold Story
• Ae Dil Hai Mushkil/Bulleya/Channa Mereya/Break Up Song  - Ae Dil Hai Mushkil
• Bolo Har Har/Darkhast  - Shivaay
• Love You Zindagi - Dear Zindagi
• Koi Fariyaad  - Tum Bin 2
• Dangal Dangal / Dhakad / Haanikarak Baapu - Dangal