The 100 crore directors of 2012

The 100 crore directors of 2012

As many as eight films achieved set targets and laughed all the way to the bank. Here are the men behind those numbers

    This year, we saw eight movies crossing the 100 crore target — the ‘benchmark figure’ as it’s popularly called in the trade circuit. While Rohit Shetty (Bol Bachchan) has become a regular in this club, Karan Malhotra got in with his directorial debut (Agneepath). Kabir Khan (Ek Tha Tiger), Anurag Basu (Barfi), Sajid Khan (Housefull 2) and Prabhudheva (Rowdy Rathore) are the other new entrants to the club. Unfortunately, the legendary Yash Chopra wasn’t around to see his final film Jab Tak Hai Jaan’s box-office performance. These eight films contributed to about 40 per cent of the 2600 cr plus national net earnings from Hindi films this year.

ARBAAZ KHAN Assisted Mahesh Bhatt before debuting as an actor with Daraar. Produced Dabangg. After Abhinav Kashyap opted out of Dabangg 2, Arbaaz took up the reins. The film made 101 crore in eight days.

PRABHUDHEVA Following the success of his Hindi directorial debut Wanted, this actordirector made Rowdy Rathore inspired by the Telugu film Vikramarkudu. The Akshay Kumar film made 132.25 crore.

YASH CHOPRA Chopra returned to directing eight years after Veer-Zaara and announced that Jab Tak Hai Jaan would be his swansong. He passed away before the film released. The film took home 106 crore.

ANURAG BASU After debuting with Saaya, his next film Murder was a hit. Basu further established himself as a director with Gangster and Life In A… Metro. His Barfi made 105.68 crore.

KABIR KHAN After Kabul Express and New York, Kabir Khan made his most ambitious venture with Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif. It saw Salman collaborate with producers Yash and Aditya Chopra for the first time. Ek Tha Tiger made 186.26 crore.

SAJID KHAN The erstwhile comedian has had a dream run as a filmmaker with comedies like Heyy Babyy and Housefull. He promised that the sequel would be a bigger hit. It was no empty boast. Housefull 2 made 111.63 crore.

ROHIT SHETTY He’s best known for his family entertainers like the Golmaal series and blowing up cars in action sequences. This time round, he remade Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s original GolMaal. Fortunately, the gamble paid off and Bol Bachchan made 102 crore.

KARAN MALHOTRA Karan Johar’s former assistant director revisited Agneepath at KJo’s behest. Considering that the failure of the original film broke Yash Johar’s heart, Malhotra couldn’t have made KJo more proud. The film made 121.14 crore. (The figures are India theatrical earnings after deducting tax)