Raising the bar to `200 crore

THIS YEAR WILL SEE AT LEAST THREE FILMS CROSSING THE `200 CRORE MARK IN TERMS OF FILM AND PROMOTIONAL BUDGETS

It is a welcome sign that filmmakers are ready to take such risks and try and make films which will take India to another level rather than just playing safe all the time

— ATUL MOHAN, EDITOR, COMPLETE CINEMA

In 1943, the Ashok Kumar starrer Kismet was the first film which made `1 crore and was considered to be the first blockbuster in India. The film, which ran for many months in then undivided India was a landmark. Kismet was made at a budget of `2 Lakh. Now with `100 crore films becoming the norm, film budgets have also increased tremendously. And 77 years later, the budgets have added many more zeroes to it. This year will see at least three films cross the `200 crore mark in terms of the cost of making and promotional budgets. “The first release will be Sooryavanshi on March 27, whose budget is now between 225-250 crores including the cost of publicity and the digital telecast fees. The film has been bankrolled by Reliance Entertainment along with Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty,” says our source.

April will see the release of ‘83, which has also been backed by Reliance along with Kabir Khan, Deepika Padukone and Sajid Nadiadwala. “The cost of that film is around `160 crores for the making and around `40 crores is going to be spent over the next few days for the publicity and release,” adds our trade source.

And then there is Brahmastra from Karan Johar’s production house which will also cross the Rs 200 crore mark easily due to the enormous special effects in the film along with the casting that includes Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Nagarjuna.

“Unless these films cross a minimum of `300-350 crore mark in collections, they won’t be considered very good. In fact, they have to do more than `396 crore made by Dangal, which is the highest ever, to be a super hit. So, one can expect a huge publicity blitz along with a huge number of screens on a solo release day on the cards,” adds our source.

But Atul Mohan, Editor Complete Cinema says that the time has come. “Hollywood’s big hits are the films made with very big budgets and now, we will be seeing those kinds of films coming from Bollywood as well. It is a welcome sign that filmmakers are ready to take such risks and try and make films which will take India to another level rather than just playing safe all the time,” he opines.