Bollywood’s reigning stars are no longer its brawny males. Believe it or not but the most successful actor this year based on returns that her movies have made from domestic net box office collections is the youth heartthrob Alia Bhatt (based on data up to October 31).

Alia might be new in Bollywood, but she has given three consecutive blockbusters this year in Highway, 2 States and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya. And based on ROI from the box office she is well ahead of super stars like Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and even Shah Rukh Khan. And of course much ahead in the pecking order compared to co-actresses Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra.

Alia has given a return of 1.87 times of what the producers spend on their movies from net box domestic box office collections from her three movies. Her three movies made with a combined budget of Rs 88 crore were able to recover Rs 207 crore from net box office collections - a return of over 135%.

Amongst the men, Salman Khan - whose two movies had a budget of Rs 200 crore - was able to recover Rs 347 crore from the domestic box office- a return of 73.5%. Even Hritik Roshan with his single film this year in Bang Bang garnered only a ROI of 28% garnering a net box office collection of Rs 180 crore on a movie with a budget of Rs 140 crore. And Shah Rukh Khan might be pleased with his success in Happy New Year but he made Rs 205 crore from domestic net box office on a movie with a budget of Rs 125 crore.

Alia’s competitors in the business, though they have made good returns, have not been able to match her record. Deepika Padukone who acted in two movies Finding Fanny and Happy New Year was able to garner a ROI of 58% on a budget of Rs 152 crore on the two movies. Priyanka Chopra, despite the amazing success of Mary Kom, was able to garner Rs 137 crore as box office collection for her two movies (the other was Gunday) leading to a return of 87%.

ALIA Cost Net BO Prod. BO Satellite Music Revenue BO RoI RoI Total Revenue Total RoI Highway 23 28 12.88 10 4 26.88 21.74 16.87 42 82.61 2 States 40 102 46.92 30 4 80.92 155.00 102.30 136 240.00 Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania 25 77 35.42 0 6 41.42 208.00 65.68 83 232.00 88 207 95.22 40 14 149.22 135.23 69.57 261 196.59

Surely Bollywood big boys have bigger budgets for their movies, while the likes of Alia’s films are made with smaller budgets. So higher returns on investment are that much more difficult to make on bigger movies-and producers look at how much profit they get.

But what is interesting to note is that some of the new boys of Bollywood are doing very well. That is, clearly a reflection that tinsel town is no longer dependent to its three Khans for box office moolah anymore. Varun Dhawan with two movies has made a ROI on net box office collections of an attractive 103%, ahead of Salman Khan. His two movies made with a budget of Rs 63 crore recovered Rs 130 crore from net box office collections surely making him one of the most bankable stars.

(Surajeet Das Gupta is corporate editor, Business Standard)



