Baahubali 2 is being touted as the movie of the decade. By earning a humongous amount of money at the Box Office, Rs 1400 crore approximately at the worldwide market, the Prabhas movie has set new benchmarks. It won’t be exaggerating to say that Indian cinema will be judged as pre-Baahubali and post-Baahubali, in the coming years. But what if we tell you that all the hoopla around this SS Rajamouli directorial is all smoke and no matter? What if we tell you that statistically Bheja Fry, the 2007 comedy Bollywood film is the most profitable movie in last few years.
The common phenomena when one look at Box Office business is that a movie earning more money is more profitable. However, when it comes to movies, the equation is more complicated than that. More than what the movie earns, the return of investment matters to the makers. In the case of Baahubali series, both the movies were reportedly made on a combined budget of Rs 430 cr. The combined gross earnings of both these movies is Rs 1600 crore. Calculating this, the ROI comes to 372%.
Now, anyone would say that this movie is definitely successful and has minted a lot of money for the makers. But apparently this is not true.The earnings of Baahubali franchise and the ROI are nowhere close to what Bheja Fry did when it released in 2007. The Vinay Pathak movie was made on a shoe string budget of Rs 1.5 cr and earned Rs 12.6 cr worldwide. The ROI comes to 739%.
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Apart from Bheja Fry, there are other movies that have given a brilliant return on investment. Kahani gave an ROI of 658%, Aashiqui 2 that of 629%, and Lage Raho Munnabhai that of 548% to name a few. These numbers bust the myth that a movie that earns more is more successful. Undoubtedly, Baahubali has changed the dynamics of Indian cinema but there are few others who are far more successful than this magnum opus.