B for Bahubali, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bollywood

A poster of the movie - Bahubali

2015 has been a fabulous year for Bollywood to say the least. Movies such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Bahubali and Tanu weds Manu Returns have re-written box-office history such as never before. By an estimate, 2014 didn't see Bollywood earning in excess of 1000 crore, while 2015 is expecting Bollywood to have a tryst with the 2000 crore mark, especially with the release of the SRK-Kajol starrer Dilwale, Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed Bajirao Mastani, Salman's Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo and Ranbir Kapoor's Tamasha all more than awaited.

A still from the movie - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bajrangi Bhaijaan finished 50 days this September at the box office in grand style and with net earnings in India close to 325 crore. Earlier, Aamir and Raju Hirani's PK had shattered the 340 crore mark for the first time in Bollywood box office. Bahubali, which had released in multiple languages within the country itself, saw its Hindi version give a stiff competition to Tanu weds Manu Returns, another blockbuster, and both the movies ended neck to neck around 150 crore net in India. Needless to say, both Bahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan grossed more than 600 crore worldwide (I am pretty sure the figure would have crossed even 700 crore for both of them by now).

Most loved poster of the movie - Tanu weds Manu Returns

So, what it is in movies such as these that keeps the audience enthralled, generates a positive word-of-mouth and also brings in a repeat audience? Well, the star factor is only one small attribute responsible for this, which is evident from the huge success of Bahubali Hindi version and Tanu weds Manu Returns, both of which capitalized not on star power, but on sheer content excellence, a gripping narrative and storyline, some amazing dialogues, screen presence, cinematography and swift pace of the plot to name a few.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan had a simple plot yet it left a lot of impact on the audience the world over. The theme of a little girl (who couldn't speak) separated from her mother under the least expected circumstances, and one man taking the onus upon himself to re-unite the girl with her parents no matter what, struck the chord with audience such as never before.

Bahubali saw the Telugu star Prabhas and the highly-respected director SS Rajamouli steal the hearts of the crowds up North as well, which is a feat in itself. It is also worthy to note that both Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bahubali share their script-writer in common, who is none other than Vijayendra Prasad, father of SS Rajamouli himself.

Tanu weds Manu Returns saw Kangana Ranaut steal the show with her double role in a still male dominated industry.

All in all, a tremendously successful year for Bollywood with still 7 weeks to go before we bid 2015 goodbye, only to welcome a bigger and better 2016!

SRK-Kajol in a still from the upcoming movie - Dilwale

And B for ball seems to have been replaced by the new B - B for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, B for Bahubali and B for Bollywood!

About the blogger:

Amit Ahlawat is an author and a blogger and writes in eclectic genres covering both fiction and non-fiction. The latest publication of Amit Ahlawat is available here.