<div><em>Bollywood collections of 2015 are all charioted by content instead of heavy dependence on film marketing gimmicks, <strong>Koral Dasgupta </strong>writes </em></div><div> </div><div>"Achche din" (good days) seem to have finally dawned upon the Indian box office with the cross-border emotional saga Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Bahubali from down south taking the audience by storm.</div><div> </div><div>And even better is the fact that Bollywood collections of 2015 till date are all charioted by content instead of heavy dependence on marketing gimmicks. Otherwise who would have expected a Salman Khan starrer to leave the viewers with misty eyes, as the actor redefines his brand of entertainment such that it doesn't need him to strip or put all money on style or mouth some cheesy one-liners!</div><div> </div><div>Two religions merged subtly very much in the title of the film, it has been a master idea to release Bajrangi Bhaijaan during Eid. With touching portrayals by child artist Harshali Malhotra and the fantastic Nawazuddin Siddiqui, it is more than welcome that the box office jingled with Rs 102 crore very much in the opening weekend for the Kabir Khan film.</div><div> </div><div>The film is Salman Khan's 8th to cross the Rs 100-crore mark and finds him as the actor with highest number of Rs 100 crore projects in Bollywood. Bajrangi Bhaijaan has also taken Khan-fare to a new level, breaking the opening weekend records of Aamir Khan's PK, Shah Rukh Khan's Happy New Year and his own Ek Tha Tiger. The Bajrangi Bhaijaan box office collections on day 1 was Rs 34.40 crore worldwide, out of which the domestic figure being Rs 27.25 crore.</div><div> </div><div>However, Bajrangi Bhaijan's domestic take was almost half of SS Rajamouli's Baahubali which took home Rs 50 crores on day 1. Even with the overseas collections, Bajrangi Bhaijaan stands second to the Southern epic, which has set new records by becoming the fastest entrant into the elite Rs 100 crore club. Bajrangi Bhaijaan took the screens by fire only a day after Baahubali collected Rs 300 crore at box office within just nine days of its release.</div><div> </div><div>The content of the historical film has been criticised by a few for its sexist undertones, but nothing could stop the South Indian project from being recognised as the ninth highest grossing Indian film of all times, leaving Bollywood way behind. If predictions are correct then the film will not stop till it has garnered Rs 500 crore worldwide, calling Rajnikanth's Enthiran records a success of the past. The multi-lingual mythological saga from a regional director and cast once again raises questions on the heavy dependence of Bollywood on its star system and marches ahead proving that content is the king.</div>
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