The 100 Crore Fiesta :
Are Ideas Invited? Dr. Ayiriddhi Bhattacharjee

So far, around twenty films have attained the cult status of being in the 100
crore club. After Ghajini in 2008, another Aamir Khan movie made its way into the
club in 2009 – 3 Idiots. Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan followed shortly after with
their films Dabangg and Golmaal 3, respectively, crossing the mark in 2010. This
number went on increasing from two movies to five in 2011 and nine in 2012. 2012
proved to be a memorable year for Bollywood as far as business is concerned. Nine
films crossed the 100 crore mark, one of them crossing it in just five days – Salman
Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger. Surprisingly, movie critics had slammed some of these 100
crore films, before their release, on account of senseless stories and plots. Some
of these movies got brick bats even after their release, but that did not stop them
from being top money garners of that year. Similarly, in 2011, three of the five films
were remakes of south Indian films, however, that did not prove to be a hindrance
in attaining the supreme status of 100 crore movies. Publicity gimmicks and clever
marketing strategies have helped these movies to rewrite Bollywood history like
never before. Year 2013 is half-way through and two films have
already crossed the 100 crore mark and attained the status of
blockbusters. Race 2, which released in 3200 screens in India
on January 25, 2013, is the first movie of Saif Ali Khan to cross
the 100 crore mark at the domestic Box Office. It surpassed
this benchmark within a fortnight. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
released in 3,000 screens across India on May 31, 2013, debuted
with packed houses and made a record breaking collection on
it’s opening day. The film raked in Rs 107.61 crores nett in
the first week of its release, Rs 177.09 crores nett within the
following two weeks, and is still running sucessfully in movie
halls across the country