Bollywood takes a big bet

The days of big-budget films are back. Between October and January, at least five films will be released with budgets of Rs 75 crore to Rs 90 crore. These include Blue, London Dreams, 3 Idiots, Kites and My Name is Khan. All told, nearly Rs 500 crore is at stake on big-budget films. And one in six films scheduled for release in the next five months is a big film made with a budget of over Rs 50 crore.

Moreover, most of these films have been shot at exotic foreign locales and had foreign cast and crew working for them, which trade experts said is a recent phenomenon. Films like the Akshay Kumar-Sanjay Dutt starrer Blue, Hrithik Roshan’s Kites and Shahrukh Khan’s My Name Is Khan have been shot extensively at Bahamas, Mexico, the US and Brazil.

However, film trade experts said they were skeptical whether these films will be able to recover the cost this festive season.