The first quarter of 2012 delivered a surprise package for the industry. Kudos to filmmakers who took the plunge
The first quarter of 2012 has not only started on a positive note, it has also shattered a few myths and taught us valuable lessons as well. And it’s all good.
So, if the first three months of the year were traditionally considered a lean period and even a bad omen for releases, this year’s experience has proved that January, February and March are not as cruel to the industry as we used to believe.
Also, this is the first time an array of small-budget; content-driven films have found appreciation across the board. And the success of dark horses like UTV’s Paan Singh Tomar (PST) and Viacom 18’s Kahaani have demonstrated that the audience has become discerning and is ready to embrace quality stories that are well told despite the lack of a big cast. In a nutshell, content is king.
Let’s not forget that we owe these lessons to the filmmakers who bravely took the plunge and released even big-budget films like Agneepath, Players and Agent Vinod during this time, not to mention the looming IPL Seasons 5 that did not scare filmmakers this year!
So, since the first quarter has just concluded, here’s a report card on how the Hindi film industry has performed during the first three months of 2012.
Apoorva Mehta CEO , Dharma Productions
The firstquarter of theyear has beenexcellent notjust in terms ofcollections butalso in termsof content. Adiverse range offilms released and most of them did well. So whether it was a hard-hitting film likeAgneepath, a sweet love story like EMAET or a woman-centric thriller like Kahaani, all of them did very good business atthe box office. PST was the dark horse. It was a surprise and did really well atthe box office. Films with a diverse cast, budget and subject were all appreciatedby the audience.
Vikram Malhotra COO , Viacom 18 Motion Pictures 
The first quarterof the yearhas been reallygood. Hindi filmshave broken thebelief that thefirst three monthsare unlucky andfilms releasedduring this time do not become hits. Agneepath sort of set the ball rolling. Soonwe had other films that did well, and thenthere was Kahaani.When we were planning to release Kahaani in March, people thought wewere insane as Holi is considered to bea taboo time to release a film. We weretold that no one would step out to watcha film as it is a bad omen. But we wentahead and the film did amazing businessfor us. We had another sustained hit with Blood Money.
