Earning big bucks: (From left) Anushka Sharma, Shah Rukh and Katrina Kaif posing on the red carpet at the premiere of ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ in Mumbai. — AFP

THE year 2012 was good for Bollywood, which raked in fistfuls of moolah as a number of films hit pay dirt at the box office. Of the three reigning Khans, Salman again proved his pulling power at the turnstiles, though both Aamir and Shah Rukh also featured in moderately successful films.

A most welcome development was the wide acceptance of women-centric films. At least three films, in which male actors had only peripheral roles, turned out to be the surprise hits of 2012.

In a traditionally male-centric industry, the popularity of heroine-driven films underlined the changing tastes of audiences.

Actress Vidya Balan, who in The Dirty Picture had single-handedly given a huge hit in 2011, carried the absorbing thriller Kahaani on her wide shoulders last year.

A very pregnant Balan lands in Kolkata in search of her husband. The entire story, of course, with the usual cinematic twists, revolves around her as she scours the metropolis to locate him. Discerning film critics judged the thriller the best film of 2012.

Made at a modest budget of some US$2.5mil (RM7.55mil), it earned about US$13mil (RM39.2mil) on the box-office.

Another woman-centric film that became a surprise hit was debutant-director Gauri Shinde’s English-Vinglish. The quest of an Indian woman in New York, played with great aplomb by yesteryear’s heroine, Sridevi, to learn English in order to get ahead socially and professionally, makes for an interesting tale.

For Sridevi, after her marriage and children, the film served as a perfect comeback vehicle. It earned big bucks for its makers and established Shinde as one of the foremost women-directors in Bollywood.

Though it was the most talked about woman-centric film of 2012, the Kareena Kapoor-starrer Heroine did not do as well as was expected.

It too was a hit but nowhere near as big as Kahaani or English-Vinglish. A film on the life and times of a female Bollywood star, played by the reigning heroine Kareena Kapoor, it did not have a significant male lead.

Bollywood also notched success in a number of “regular” films.

Without doubt, the most successful on the box office was the Salman Khan-starrer, Dabangg 2.

As usual, one had to leave one’s critical faculties at home while watching the film, in which Salman played a mischievous cop with a heart of gold who uses unconventional methods to go after the crooks. As usual too, it was lapped up by the front stalls, emerging as one of the biggest hits of last year.

Salman also featured in another big hit, the Yashraj Films’ Ek Tha Tiger, which collected over US$25mil (RM75.5mil) on the box-office to set a new benchmark for the industry. The other two Khans featured in at least one big hit in the year, Aaamir in Talaash and Shah Rukh in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Both films earned big bucks.

However, Salman was easily the most successful Khan in the industry in 2012.

In terms of critical success, Paan Singh Tomar, the true story of a soldier who turns a dacoit when local authorities collude with people who grab his ancestral land, won the lead protagonist, Irrfan Khan, acting honours.

Another film which featured the year’s newest acting talent, Nawazuddin Siddique, was the two-part Gangs of Wasseypur, Anurag Kashyap’s take on the crime mafia in the coal mining business in eastern India. The film retained the original lingo, including profanities, common in that part of the country.

Vicky Donor was another surprise hit of the year. A low-budget film shot mostly in South Delhi, it had an original story-line about sperm donation.

Even though it had no known actors, its success proved that the audiences can lap up a well-made film with a tight narration. The hero of the film, Anshuman Khurana, is now looking for meaty roles in Bollywood.

Meanwhile, a number of sequels and big-budget films are due for release in 2013. Bollywood is set to experiment with 3D films, with some 30% of theatres equipping themselves with the requisite technology.

One of the first films to be released in the new year is the much talked-about Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola. The maker of the critically successful Saat Khoon Maaf, Bhardwaj’s latest is a rustic comedy set in the north Indian State of Haryana. Much is expected of the film, especially because Bhardwaj has established a name for making purposeful films.

Another much-awaited film is Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, based on the true life of Milkha Singh, India’s sole hope in the 400m race in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. A soldier in the Indian Army, he came fourth in the 1960 Rome Olympics, earning him the nickname The Flying Sikh. Talented actor-director Farhan Akhtar is playing Milkha.

In a country where cricket and Bollywood are the only sources of mass entertainment, neither DVD players nor the availability of hundreds of television channels has dimmed the appeal of popular, and largely escapist, cinema.

Film-makers are cashing in on that craze.

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