No show for Bollywood in first half

Bigger the hype, bigger the disappointment of audience. While 125 movies were released in the last six months, only Prakash Jha's Raajneeti was declared a blockbuster with total net gross of over Rs 77 crore.

Bigger the hype, bigger the disappointment of audience and this seemed to be the general trend at the box office in the first half of 2010 as several biggies namely Kites, Raavan and Veer fared miserably.

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While 125 movies were released in the last six months, only Prakash Jha's Raajneeti was declared a blockbuster with total net gross of over Rs 77 crore.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra feels Raajneeti worked because of the casting of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in political drama.

"Many people underestimated Ranbir's charisma. It is the youth which matter at the box office as an audience. If not for these two, the youngsters would not have gone to see a political film. Besides, the film had an interesting ensemble cast and was mounted well," he said.

Mehra said makers of Kites and Raavan have suffered losses of over Rs 100 crore as these two movies proved to be major disasters.

Mehra was of the view that only Housefull and Love Sex Aur Dhoka have broken even.

"Rest movies were all flops. The industry has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 450 to Rs 500 crore in the first half," he said.

He said My Name is Khan, Ishqiya and Athithee Tum Kab Jaoge were somewhat appreciated but eventually lost money at the box office in totality.