Good Times Ahead for Bollywood

The Hindu festival of lights, Diwali, on October 17 is seen as a banker for Bollywood as holiday time begets a lot of entertainment demand.




Big budget films like the Warner Bros. co-production "Chandni Chowk To China", "Delhi 6" and the Shahrukh Khan release "Billu" all disappointed this year at the box office. Then, a glut of new films are due out as the 2.3-billion-dollar Bollywood business looks to recover from a multiplex cinema boycott, swine flu fears and a series of expensive flops.

We anticipate "good times" ahead for the industry over the next three months.

The stakes were "extremely high for both producers and distributors as it is the first festive season in several years where over half-a-dozen very big films are scheduled for release.


Producer-director Karan Johar's comedy "Wake Up Sid" kicks off the battle of the blockbusters on October 2, on Diwali weekend itself. "All The Best", a comedy, "Blue", an underwater odyssey and Salman Khan's second "comeback" film, "Main Aur Mrs Khanna" (Me And Mrs Khanna), are out on October 16.

The following week sees the release of Khan's third new film, "London Dreams", and the animation "Aladin", with voices by Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan returns in November with "Paa" (Father), about a boy with a premature ageing condition, going up against "Kurbaan" (Sacrifice), with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, "Jail" and "Tum Mile".

Actor-producer-director Aamir Khan comes to end off the year with "3 Idiots" on Christmas Day, December 25. But Diwali regularly sees films compete with one another. "Ultimately, a good film works irrespective of whenever it is released." Hope so!