Though with more ‘misses’ than ‘hits’ in 2015, Ollywood saw virtually a deluge of films. Of the 27odd full-length feature films released during 2015, 10 films hit the screens between January and June. Good and very good films rubbed shoulders with the bad, the very bad, the terrible and the ‘invisible’ meaning films that were almost not seen by anyone.
Never before have so many genres been covered. The range of subjects spanned every conceivable genres—family melodrama, murder mystery, comedy, musical romance, Bollywood Xeroxes, films inspired by literature and issue-centric films. New faces are coming up every dayand the audience loves them all even if the critics do not always agree.
The year 2015 can be split into two halves so far as trends in hits and misses in Ollywood are concerned. The first half did not go as well with the audience and in terms of box office returns and also in terms of the number of films released.
The four hits that that received rave reviews are Gapa Hele Be Sata featuring Anubhav , Barsha, Mihir Das, Super Michua featuring Babushan and Jhilik directed by Ashok Pati. The films hit the screen during Raja festival. Similarly, Pilata Bigidi Gala also find place as a comedy film which stars Arachita and Sabyasachi in lead. On the eve of Durga Puja, Jaga Hatare Pagha comprising Aubhav Mohanty, Elina Samantray, Jhilik Bhattacharjee in lead cast also created a record in the box office though it was a remake of a Marathi film.
On the other hand, Bhala Pae Tate 100 ru 100 staring Babushaan Mohanty and Sital also created a box office havoc.
The rest fell by the wayside, like yesterday’s dried-up flowers. Among them, the films that blew up a big pre-releasehype but did not live up to audiences expectations was Sudhanshu Sahu’s Mao based film Bhaunari. It failed to click though it was an adaptation of a short story penned by Ratanakar Rout. The other shock was College Time starring Amlan and Riya falling flat on its face.
This means that both the Amlan-Riya starrers released this year failed even to cover costs. New faces like Sital and Elina are able to prove themselves as good actresses but unable to reach the popularity as Jhilik Bhattacharjee. There have been more misses than hits during the second half of the year, and the ‘invisible’ films coincide with this phase.
The Arindam–Riya starrer Kalki, a film inspired by murder mystery, did reasonable business while Sudhanshu Sahu’s Raghupati Raghav Rajaram did well but was not a thumping hit. Running neck-to-neck in the race to the biggest hit is Ashok Pati’s Super Michua released in October. While Akshya Parija Production Kehi Nuhe Kahar creates a new history as it is based on a new genre of murder mystry, yet it was not among the hits. Big-hype films that could not please the cash counters at all are Jie Jaha Kahu Mora Dho, Nua Nua Premare, Kie Daba Takkar, love You Hamesha Revisited etc.
These films prove that without a powerful and tight-knit script, even the best of actors, singers, music and technical excellence can do nothing to save a film. Another tragedy was the abysmal failure of Sanjaya Nayak’s strikingly surrealistic road movie Rangila Baba.
Films on hold for reasons no one is prepared to talk about are Ae Janama Ra Sathi Tiye ,lekhichi Naa Tora, Rockstar, Maya, Apna Haath Jagannath ,Mo Dil Kahe Ilu Ilu ,Bindass Romeo, Flash Back and Galpa Nuhe Alapa Dinara. As an actress Jhilik Bhattacharjee proved herself as number one while Barsha in second, Elina and Riya are in the news not for their acting but for their dress and costume. There was stiff competition between Anubahav and Babushan to secure first position. Arindam made his presence felt in a big way with four releases in a year—Bhaunari, love You Hamesha, Isque Tu HeTu and Kalki. Bulu and Poonam were unnoticed for the failure of their films in box office. Over all, most of the films in this year were not up to the mark. Hopefully, movies across all industries will fare better in coming year.
