Weekend

In the Bollywood hundreds of films are produced and released every year but very few of them are declared hits, where producers and distributors make profits. Most of the films does not perform well at box office, many of them are flops and they even fail to recover the investment and most of the other films anyhow manage to recover their cost and everyone is pleased  because nothing is lost .In the last category are most of the big budget films, which any how recover their cost, and producers heave a  sigh of relief. In this category of big budget films, even stars’ reputation who are acting in them are at stake and they are also happy that their film is not certified as flop, and in Bollywood language, it is said that the film did average business . Then there is one last category of films which are made with  very low budget but they are declared super duper hits,  and their box office business is many times more than their production cost, producer concern earn huge profits and  market price of the stars acting in them overnight skyrockets.

Today I am mentioning few films of recent times which were low budget films, but they did exceptionally well at box office. Listed below are few films of the recent times who fall in this category:

1 Paan Singh Tomar– It is biopic film on the life and times a national athlete (runner). It starred Irrfan Khan in title role and was appreciated by both masses and critics. Irrfan won many awards for this film. It was made on a budget of Rs 8 Cr and did the business of Rs 40 Cr approx.

2 No One killed Jessica–  It was based on true incident of Jessical Lal being murdered in the heat of moment, when she refused hard drink at the bar where she was serving. It starred Vidya Balan as Jessica’s  sister who fight criminal case against the killer. Rani Mukerji starred as TV journalist who was covering this case. The film was made at the cost of Rs 9 Cr and did thee business of Rs 9 Cr and did the business of approx Rs 48 Cr.

3 Vicky Donor– It was released in 2012 and made quite sensation in the market for its novel subject of donating sperm. Ayushman Khurana who acted in the role of Vicky  became a star, even the leading lady played by Yami Gautam also  became quite popular with this film. Anu Kapoor in a supporting role was quite brilliant. This film was made on the budget of Rs 5 Cr and did the business of Rs 65 Cr on the box office.

4 Gangs of Waseypur (part 1)- This low budget movie based on gang wars in the state of Bihar starred  Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda and Pankaj Tripathi. It was appreciated both by masses and critics, and collected many awards. It became a cult movie as far as Bollywood is concerned, as after this many films/web series were made on the similar lines of gang wars in the smaller cities. Its budget and box office figures are not available, as the film was shot mostly at location with known actors (no stars) its production could not be very high. It’s second [part came within year and that was also appreciated very much.

5 Kahani- This 2012 film, starred Vidya Balan in the role of a pregnant lady who comes to Kolkata in search of her missing husband. It was a mystery film, had no other star/actor of known repute. Nawazuddin Siddiqui came into limelight with this film, before this he had done small cameo roles in many films. In the end it was Vidya Balan’s movie all the way. Produce at the cost of Rs 8 Cr, it did the business of Rs 78 Cr.

6. Lunch Box- It was simple love story of about to retire executive, played by Irrfan Khan, who accidently starts receiving Lunch Box meant for someone else. He likes the food and sends a message in the lunch box, which is read by the wife (Nimrat Kaur) of the person for whom lunch box was send. This Lunch Box delivery mistake continues, and soon both starts having feeling for each other. Once they decided to meet but after seeing the lady is quite young, Irrfan develops cold feet and does not meet her. Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays the role of executive who has to take over from Irrfan. Film made at the cost off Rs 22 Cr, did the business of little over Rs 100 Cr.
7. Hindi Medium- This movie also starred Irrfan Khan in lead role, of a rich father who wants that his daughter should study in Delhi’s known English medium public school. As he did not get the admission for her daughter in open category, next year he tries in reserved category and start staying in poor man’s janata colony with his wife. In the end daughter gets the admission and in the process a deserving boy from the poor family, who they befriend, is deprived of the admission. How Irrfan acts post this, is worth seeing on the screen. Wonderful acting by Irrfan in lead role. The movie made with the budget of just Rs 14 Cr, collected more that Rs 300 Cr world wide.

The above movies were really worth watching and if you have not watched any one of them then you have really missed a good movie.

Waiting for your comments/views/feed backs.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

17^th July 2020