Half-Yearly Report of Bollywood Movies in 2010

It's that time of the year when one would like to see how bollywood have performed over the period of 6 months starting January, 2010.
With only one super hit in Raajneeti and one hit in My Name is Khan, the condition of the industry looks dilapidated.
Lack of originality, novel themes, power-packed content and lackluster performances are the factors that have paved the way for major flicks turning out to be stinking turkeys at the box-office.
Also the rage of IPL for over 45 days was other factor for theatres being empty.
Final Word, Well we have only some khushi and all Gham at the ticket window. How? Let's examine!
We will see in the coming columns as to what are the factors responsible for the successful movies' triumph & woeful films' deterioration, respectively. Let's kick off the report with the string of flops.
Veer (Verdict - Flop)
The movie was one of the biggest openers of 2010. With more than 500 prints put across, the movie managed a decent opening, basically riding on the niche name of Salman Khan, earning 30 Crores in first 3 days. Later on, the picture changed drastically as the movie lacked originality, and the content was not able to hold audiences glued to the screen. The only saving grace was its exceptional musical score. As the days passed, people rejected the movie and it became the first major flop of 2010.
Plusses- Salman Khan, Musical score, Cinematography
Minuses- Lackluster performances, nothing new to offer
Paathshaala (Verdict - Flop)
The movie was critically and commercially unsuccessful. The major reason for its plummeting was the repetition of the concept we had seen in Taare Zameen Par, Thus a comparison was rife and the movie could nor match up to the expectation of the viewers.
Plusses- Shahid Kapoor, Music
Minuses- Half-baked product and performances
Phoonk 2 (Verdict - Flop)
The movie was the sequel to the 2008 average grosser Phoonk, but the confusion in the climax scenes led to the debacle of this horror flick. Simply, it failed to terrorize cinegoers.
Plusses- Ashwini Keleskar as the ghost, Ehsaas Channa
Minuses- Could not live up the level of its prequel, Lacked fear factor.
Prince (Verdict - Flop)
Launched as the come back vehicle of Vivek Oberoi, Prince failed to make him the prince of the bollywood and must say, the movie bit the dust and how! The flick was over hyped and its lack of meat in the script made it bite the dust.
Plusses- Musical score and lip-lock scenes
Minuses- Flawed story, zero performance-level, bad marketing strategies and IPL.
Karthik Calling Karthik (Verdict - Flop)
This Farhan Akhter-Deepika Padukone was a film audiences failed to connect with. Farhan shall concentrate more to his directing career. He is not an acting material, for sure.
Plusses- Hard to find
Minuses- So many to list out here, sorry!
Rann (Verdict - Flop)
Even Amitabh Bachchan's presence in the film could not prevent the film from sinking at the box-office even without a trace. The story lacked solidity.
Plusses- Amitabh Bachchan, Reteish Deshmukh, Sudeep
Minuses- Failure of not had been able to convert an ambitious project in to a cinematic genius.
Teen Patti (Verdict - Flop)
The story of this fanfare was so flawed that it could not bring audiences to the cinema halls. Amitabh's hamming led to the debacle of the movie. Indigestive!
Plusses- None
Minuses- Toooooooo Many
These were big flops of the 2010 so far. You must be thinking why not we have featured Kites & Raavan here. Well, we have a special section created enacted. To find out, read on!
Surprise! Surprise!
The two of the most hyped and hugely anticipated movies being speculated to revive the industry from the burden of surging flops and set the cash registers ringing have flopped like anything. Such has been their fate they are not been able to recover their production costs. They are Kites and Raavan. Welcome to the section of disasters.

The Disasters:

Kites (Verdict - Disaster)
One of the keenly anticipated movies of 2010, Kites failed to soar high and could not reignite the screen. The Midas touch of Rakesh Roshan- Hrithik Roshan seems to have lost its way out.
The story was the main culprit as it had nothing new to offer at all. We have seen N numbers of such outings before. The major USP of Hrithik, His dance, was sidelined, thus disappointing his fans. Hrithik & Barbara looked hot on the screen but could not absorb the limelight. An actress of Kangana Ranaut caliber was wasted.
Plusses- Music, Cinematography, Direction.

Minuses- Soulless Performances, hamming.
Raavan (Verdict - Disaster)
Mani Ratnam has missed the success bus this time and how! The lack of aggressiveness and menacing of the title character of Raavan completely has made this over hyped product phase out without registering substantial selling.
Plusses- Vikram and Aishwarya, Cinematography
Minuses- Music, Abhishek Bachchan, Editing

Now, lets have a look at some of the above average Bollywood movie grossers of half 2010:

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge! (Verdict - Average)
First things first, despite IPL, the movie managed a decent performance because it has its heart at the right place, i.e., the story. Plus, a super combination of performances from the leads of the movie landed it to safety.
Plusses- Ajay Devgan, Paresh Raval, Konkana Sen Sharma and story.
Minuses- Misplacing of songs, slow second half.
Badmaash Company (Verdict - Average)
The freshness, novelty and perfection in the execution of the story equipped with foot tapping music and niche performances from Shahid Kapoor and tight direction from the first timer, Parmeet Sethi led the movie to the above average category.
Plusses- Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Parmeet Sethi, Music
Minuses- Second-half is slow
I Hate Luv Storys (Verdict - Average)
The freshness of the lead pair plus a novel theme and more importantly a strange title and music attracted audiences to the plexes in folds. Imran Khan & Sonam Kapur's performances have also made this movie click with the youth cinegoers.
Plusses- Noted performances form the lead actors, soulful music
Minuses- Bad editing could have trimmer in the second half.
Housefull (Verdict - Average)
The Sajid Khan-Akshay Kumar-Reteish Deshmukh once again clicked on the box office after the savvy Heyy Babbyy. The comic timing, performances from the leads and music ensured that the movie see green at the end.
Plusses- Akshay Kumar, Sajid Khan's Direction
Minuses- Too much skin show
Well, its time to take you to the winner world. Yes, you guessed them right! They are Raajneeti & My Name is Khan.

Hit ke baad super hit:

My Name is Khan (Verdict - Hit)
The combination of SRK and Karan Johar never fails and this movie proves it yet again. Water tight script and excellent music plus exceptional performances from Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and team saw the movie easily getting the HIT status instantly.
Plusses- SRK & Kajol, Karan's direction, superb music, editing, story, etc.
Minuses- Too long
Raajneeti (Verdict - Super Hit, Blockbuster)
The best thing and best actor in the movie was the excellent story and not to mention, Prakash Jha's gripping direction. Top performances from the leads were erected out by the director just like he has done in his previous outings like Gangaajal and Apaharan, respectively.
Plusses- Performances from Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Raampal, Ajay Devgan, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, direction, editing, cinematography, amazingly exceptional climax, etc.
Minuses-Too long towards the second hour

Conclusion:

Well, we have tried to present the report card of Hindi movies of the first 6th months of 2010 where we have only two winners. With

• Lamhaa,
• Khatta Meetha,
• Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai,
• Aisha,
• Peepli Live,
• Kajraare,
• Hello Darling,
• Anjaana Anjaani,
• Lafangey Parindey,
• Golmaal 3,
• Action Replay,
• Guzaarish,
• Tees Maar Khan

amongst others gearing up to hit the silver screen shortly in the ensuing months and mesmerize you with their offerings, can we expect these movies to revive the soul of bollywood. We are keeping our fingers crossed!