The year has ended on a high note with Dangal but it has been a poor year overall for Hindi films with footfalls down for the third consecutive year though there may be a little bit of growth in terms of amount collected depending on Dangal. The year saw a record 225 Hindi releases of which just sixteen proved AVERAGE or better. That is a 7.11% ratio.  

 

There is a huge difference in opinion between what most film makers see as good content and what the audience sees as good content which has seen most big studios shut up shop or stop acquiring as far as Hindi films go. The acquiring stopping may not be a bad thing as it was this that led to bad content flourishing as makers had table profits so box office results did not matter too much as money was made but somewhere down the line someone is always loosing when a film is rejected by the audience..

 

 

There were two good films in 2016 and the numbers say it all with others lagging so far behind that it is not even funny. The business is there as Sultan and Dangal have proved and its not come just because of the presence of Salman Khan and Aamir Khan. It makes a difference to have big stars but not that much that every other film remains 200 crore nett below them. Two films easily get over 3 crore footfalls while most others struggle to get even 1 crore footfalls and the ones that do get over 1 crore just about do it. There probably has never been such a big between the top two films and the rest.

 

The corporates are down and with that television is going to provide the safety net and today some films have bigger recovery from television than theatrical but eventually for this to be maintained results have to be there. Here only Housefull 3 and Baaghi after Sultan actually scored out of the successful films. Dangal, M.S.Dhoni - The Untold Story, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Dear Zindagi results are pending. This means that Sultan, Housefull 3 and Baaghi were the most widely seen films of the year and universally successful. Dangal will join them no doubt while M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil might have a chance.

 

Dear Zindagi is in that Kapoor & Sons, Neerja and Pink mould where the story telling style is alien to most of the audience so they can't connect outside big multiplexes of the 5 metros so results post theatrical and in the long run are going to be bit of a disaster. The year was full of box office disasters with the high profile ones being Mirziya, Rock On 2 and Fitoor. The CLASSIFICATIONS for 2016 are as follows with distributor shares in brackets.

 

All Time Blockbuster / Blockbuster

1. Dangal (Third Weekend will decide final status)

 

Blockbuster

2. Sultan (158.50 crore)

 

Super Hit

3. Rustom (61.55 crore)

4. Airlift (59.65 crore)

 

Hit

5. M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story (60.05 crore)

6. Housefull 3 (54.92 crore)

7. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (53.19 crore)

8. Baaghi (38.10 crore)

9. Kapoor & Sons (32.35 crore)

10. Neerja (31.92 crore)

11. Pink (29.85 crore)

 

Semi Hit

12. Dear Zindagi (31.25 crore)

13. Ki & Ka (24.59 crore)

 

Average

14. Dishoom (33.26 crore)

15. Udta Punjab (27.65 crore)

16. Happy Bhaag Jayegi (12.42 crore)

 

Below Average

17. Shivaay (42.46 crore)

18. Befikre (29.25 crore)

19. Wazir (19.23 crore)