2015 has been a bad year for big films. Mega starrers like Tevar, Shamitabh and Roy tanked at the box-office, the only saving grace being Akshay Kumar’s espionage thriller Baby. But what did work in getting the audience into theaters were the small budget, zara hatke films like Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Badlapur and NH 10, despite the World Cup.
Ayushmann Khurana and Bhumi Pednekar starrer Dum Laga Ke Haisha is currently in its 5th week, having earned Rs 29.20 crore so far.
Our hero Ayushmann Khurana had just delivered a flop (Hawaizaada), our heroine Bhumi was a newcomer and 25 kilos heavier than a regular film actress and I hadn’t had a release since my debut 10ml Love flopped seven years ago.
– Sharat Katariya, Director, Dum Laga Ke Haisha
Though the odds were against his film, Katariya believes, “The story touched a chord with the audience and our producer believed in us, so the usual roadblocks didn’t stop us from succeeding.”
Badlapur’s trailer showcasing Varun Dhawan’s transformation from a romantic chocolate boy to an angry, bearded, 40 year old created a buzz. It was a risk that paid off for the actor, who trusted filmmaker Sriram Raghavan’s vision, though the director had a mega-budget flop in Agent Vinod behind him.
The fact that the film was releasing during the World Cup and had an A certificate didn’t really affect us because there was no match on that day and we felt if the film is good it will generate word of mouth and find its own audience and thats what happened.
– Varun Dhawan
Badlapur’s collections reached the Rs 50 crore mark in its third week.
Anushka Sharma too gambled with an unconventional script and a director who hadn’t had a release since his debut 8 years ago - Navdeep Singh, for her maiden production NH 10.
I like films like NH10 that are different from the obvious scripts. Good films work. Formulas don’t work. With NH10, I knew we had a good film, which may get critical acclaim but we didn’t expect it to do big numbers at the box office.
– Anushka Sharma
NH 10 continues its successful run at the box-office having earned Rs 30.60 crore at the end of three weeks. The makers have already announced a sequel titled NH 12.
The success of these small budget films have prompted the A-list producers to slash their marketing spends. Most of them have realized that nothing works at the box-office better than a simple story, well told.