By Hindustan Times
A 100 crore box office taking is not any benchmark for success, and should also be exaggerated, say Bollywood experts. Last year, Ready, Bodyguard, Singham, Don 2 and RA.One reportedly revamped Rs. 100 crore. This year, Rowdy Rathore, Agneepath and Housefull 2 claim to have achieved the feat. But industry experts say that the figure is misleading. Some even say that it's exaggerated to spice up star pay packets.
“The R100 crore mania is a myth. Firstly because it’s only 40% of the overall earnings that involves the producers, rest 60% goes in paying taxes and the percentage to the multiplexes. So Rs. 100 crores is nothing but a phenomenon created by the celebs to maintain their next film’s fee intact. Bollywood is a celebrity driven industry, so the Rs. 100 crore hue and cry is meant not to just create a buzz concerning the film in question but in addition to boost the hype across the star’s upcoming films,” says Shailendra Singh of Percept Pictures.
Actors Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Naseeruddin Shah, too, have recently questioned the sanctity of the term. “The Rs. 100 crore club is simply a fad which has arise within the industry for the past three years. The movies which come under this category are of a undeniable genre only and done by those actors who've been within the industry for the last 20 years,” says Kapoor.
Priyanka Chopra points out that several small films have done better business than the R100 crore hits. “I’m happy that two films of mine — Don 2 and Agneepath reached that figure, but there were a large number of small films besides which, in line with ratio, was bigger hits than most R100 crore films- be it The Dirty Picture or Kahaani, Ishaqzaade or Vicky Donor,” she says.
Not one to mince words, Naseeruddin Shah calls the figure “laughable”. “It is sort of a balloon for you to burst soon. People on this industry love to boast, that's why the term ‘100 crore’ has come up,” he says. Actor Sonu Sood, whose film Dabangg reportedly made R100 crore also admits, “It is a fad. Films made on the cheap of R50 cr make R100 cr and we predict they've achieved a lot.”
Filmmaker Atul Agnihotri, who produced Bodyguard, says, “It generally is a success benchmark provided that the film was made on a small scale.”
