#2023Recap: 5 Trendsetters of the Year: Shah Rukh Khan inaugurates Rs. 500 cr club, Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga delivers a 3.23 hours long ‘A’ rated blockbuster…

Bollywood Hungama, in this special report, brings to you the five trendsetters of the year who rocked the shows with their achievements.

 

#2023Recap: 5 Trendsetters of the Year: Shah Rukh Khan inaugurates Rs. 500 cr club, Animal director Sandeep Reddy Vanga delivers a 3.23 hours long ‘A’ rated blockbuster…

 

1. Shah Rukh Khan

 

The superstar faced a tough time until 2018 due to the underperformance of his films. But in 2023, he bounced back and how. Pathaan was expected to be a huge blockbuster but no one imagined that it would end up collecting more than Rs. 500 crores. And SRK achieved this unbelievable feat not just once but twice as Jawan went beyond the Yash Raj Films’ venture. For Bollywood, this was great news. Dangal (2016) had collected Rs. 387.38 crores. The film that was expected to cross Aamir Khan-starrer’s collection was expected to inaugurate the Rs. 400 crore club. Pathaan, however, jumped straight into the Rs. 500 crore club.

 

2. Sandeep Reddy Vanga

 

This cinematic genius fought the world to make sure that his labour of love, Animal, was released as per his vision. He did have to make a few compromises. Nevertheless, the final cut was 3 hours and 23 minutes long. On top of it, it was ‘A’ rated. There was a belief that the audience today doesn’t have the time to sit through long films. This myth was broken as Animal emerged as a huge blockbuster.

 

3. Zee Studios

 

The reputed production house released Gadar 2 with a lot of pomp. The solid content and the superb marketing helped the film to cross the Rs. 500 crore mark. But what was heartening was that Zee also passionately backed and released smaller films like Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, 12th Fail, Joram, etc. In times of token releases, this gesture won hearts.

 

Zee Studios CBO Shariq Patel told Bollywood Hungama exclusively, “As a studio, we’ll make the big blockbusters as well as curate gems that can excel on the world stage. It is important for us to do all of it. We need to be at the forefront of producing and presenting all kinds of cinema that can appeal to both in Kanpur as well as Cannes! Kanpur mein Gadar 2, ‘Kundali Bhagya’ (popular TV show on Zee TV) etc, chalti hai. Kennedy (an upcoming acclaimed film by Anurag Kashyap), meanwhile, works in Cannes. That shows the power of the creative engine that Zee as an overall organization is.”

 

He further spoke about Zee’s feat saying, “For the first six months on Netflix, Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway was the highest performing movie among the licensed content, surpassing Shehzada, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, etc. In short, it is our films which are delivering pretty much everywhere, in international film festivals, on international platforms and at the domestic box office, that too in the heartland of India.”

 

Gadar 2 doesn’t get the tag of the highest grosser of the year but Shariq Patel maintained that “it clearly had the highest footfall for sure,” keeping in mind the Sunny Deol-starrer had reduced ticket prices, compared to the other biggies.

 

 

4. Jayantilal Gada

 

The soft-spoken producer and distributor pioneered the Buy-One-Get-One (BOGO) ticket-free offer, with Zara Hatke Zara Bachke. While this incentive had its share of supporters and critics, one can’t deny that it gave rise to a new trend that many other distributors also implemented.

 

He told Bollywood Hungama, “Pen Studios was happy to bring audiences back in cinemas post pandemic and to continue this upward trajectory in 2023, we felt the BOGO offer was a great tool to drive audiences into the theatres. We were also confident that movies such as Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and Dream Girl 2 would pick up with word of mouth as they were good films. Hence, the offer worked very well with them. We are grateful to the producers who saw our point and trusted our vision.”

 

He also distributed two of the biggest films of 2023, Jawan and Dunki, both starring Shah Rukh Khan. On this, Jayantilal Gada stated, “We are extremely humbled and grateful to associate with the biggest star, Mr Shah Rukh Khan and Red Chillies Entertainment for 2 back-to-back projects this year. Our mutual trust and association with Mr Khan and Red Chillies goes a long way back. We had partnered earlier with them for Zero (2018) and Badla (2019) too and we are glad to continue our association. Also, the fact that we associated with great directors such as Mr Rajkumar Hirani and Atlee via these films was a dream come true.”

 

5. Jio Cinema

 

The app disrupted the market as it offered content for free. Moviegoers had a gala time as they got a chance to watch exciting films and shows without spending a penny. Anyone having a smartphone, smart TV or a laptop had access to thousands of hours of content at the click of a button.

 

Also Read: #2023Recap: 8 Direct-to-Digital films of 2023 that should have been released in theatres

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