Three Hollywood releases are among the Top 10 domestic box-office grossers this year, with the Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer 'Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' raking in Rs 1✃30 core and ranking No. 5. Net Box Office collection figures are those that are given after excluding GST and/or other taxes and levies.
The list, as expected, is topped by the Hindi-dubbed versions of Prasanth Neel's 'KGF: Chapter 2', starring Kannada star Yash, which has made Rs 434.70 crore, and S.S. Rajamouli's 'RRR' with Ram Charan and Jr NTR, its earni🍷ngs pegged at Rs 274.31 crore. These figures are being reported by websites that cover the film trade.
The global earnings, across languages, of 'KGF: Chapter 2' add up to Rs 1,235.2 crore and those of 'RRR' follow with Rs 1,135.8 crore, according to the authoritative IMDb.com, which shares gross collection figures (these include GS💯T a𒈔nd, if applicable, other taxes or levies).
Among Hindi films, the surprise topper has been Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files' with Anupam🅠 Kher, Mithun Chakraborty and Pallavi Joshi (Rs 291.2 🐟crore; globally, Rs 337.2 crore). The sleeper hit is followed by Aneez Bazmee's laugh riot 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' with Kartik Aryan, Tabu and Kiara Advani (Rs 213 crore; Rs 262.5 crore globally) and Alia Bhatt's 'Gangubai Kathiawadi', which made Rs 129.10 crore (globally, Rs 194.9 crore), a rare feat for a female-centric social drama. These IMDb.com figures are for gross collections.
None of the recent Bollywood releases has come close to these figures. Srijit Mukherji's Taapsee Pannu-starrer 'Shabaash Mithu' ꦦhas become the third sports drama -- after the Ranveer Singh-led '83' and Shahid Kapur's 'Jersey' - with box-office failure written all over. Over the past weekend, this Mithali Raj biopic has made only Rs 40 lakh.
The Rajkummar Rao-starrer '🐎HIT - The First Ca🔯se' has fared marginally better, earning Rs 1.35 crore in its opening weekend, an amount 'KGF: Chapter 2' must have made from its first show.
Vidyut Jammwal's much-hyped 'Khuda Haafiz: Chapter ll - Agni Pariksha' has made a mere Rs 10.91 crore. Cinema-go💜ers, clearly, seem to prefer action Marvel-style, for in the same period that 'Khuda Haafiz: Chapter II' has been around, Chris Hemsworth-starrer 'Thor: Love and Thunder' has grossed Rs 79.55 crore.
The face-savers for Bollywood among the recent releases has been 'Jugjugg Jeeyo', starring Varun Dhawan, Kiara Advani (who has been having a great run), Anil Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor (Rs 83.17 crore, and counting). That's substantially more than Akshay Kumar's super-hyped and politically blessed 'Samrat Prithviraj' (Rs 68.05 crore), which, inci🙈dentally, is behind yet another successful Hollywood release, 'Jurassic World Dominion' (Rs 68.56 crore).
And, as if this wasn't enough, 'The Batman' (Rs 48.10 crore) and Tom Cಌruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick' (Rs 34.50 crore) are ahead of the Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn-starrer 'Runway 34' (Rs꧟ 32.96 crore) and Tiger Shroff's Heropanti 2 (Rs 24.45 crore).
It's time for Bollywood to do serious introspection, figure out how to cut its losses and survive in the post-Covid entert🦄ainment landscape.
[With Inputs From IANS]
