Karan Johar, in his 25th flamboyant year as film director, and Dharma Productions’ rollicking July-end comedy-drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani, are being rightly credited with turning Bollywood’s post-Covid dismal scenario and bringing audiences back to theatres in droves. Not since multiplexes opened in the early 2000s offering many screens and several shows, and online booking came on age, have Housefull boards been seen outside cinema houses. That’s happening all over again. Now. And trade pundits are rejoicing that the last weekend saw four super hit Bollywood releases running simultaneously to packed audiences in metros and Tier 2 and 3 cities.

The four films – RARKPK, OMG2, Gadar2 and Ghoomer – are as different in content and cast from each other as they can be. KJo was clear from the start. He wanted a family entertainer that made you laugh, made you cry, and made you revisit family values all over again. Rambunctious Ranveer Singh and gorgeous Alia Bhatt, as Rocky and Rani, did that ably supported by a cast of veteran players that included Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi. Akshay Kumar, sportingly taking a smaller role in OMG2 and letting Bollywood’s new go-to man Pankaj Tripathi run away with all the accolades, as a messenger for Lord Shiva, got temple bells ringing for joy along with the box office tills as he packed a powerful social message in a film on faith and mythology. In Sunny Deol’s Gadar2, audiences found their roaring lion returning to teach Pakistan what it means to mess around with a God-fearing Indian. But the surprise was Abhishek Bachchan, doing one better at the drunkard act than his legendary father Amitabh Bachchan, as a bitter ex-Test cricketer who takes an amputee and makes her a Team India champion cricketer.

One thing is clear. Indian audiences don’t want heavy, ponderous films with unbelievable SFX that make them think and wonder any longer. They want paisa vasool entertainment. That’s what cinema is for and is all about. And the fact that RARKP continued to run steady in its fourth weekend (despite reduced screens) and took its BO collection to 145.15 crore (Fri, 1 crore; Sat, 1.85 crore; Sunday, 2.28 crore) means entertaining cinema is here to stay. OMG2, meanwhile, in its second weekend proved how important critical acclaim was for an A film whose ultimate reward was audience validation. It put up a “solid show”, declares Taran Adarsh, to take its BO figure up to 113.67 crore (Fri, 6.03 crore; Sat, 10.53 crore; Sun, 12.06 crore), which the veteran film critic and trade analyst said was a “humongous achievement” in the face of a Goliath like Gadar2. But it was Sunny Deol’s sequel that created history on the weekend, making Gadar2 the film with the highest second weekend of Hindi cinema. It set a new benchmark for blockbuster films taking its BO total to 375.10 crore on the weekend (Fri, 20.50 crore; Sat, 31.07 crore; Sun, 38.90 crore). Gadar2 is the highest grossing film in Weekend 2 with a collection of 90.47 crore, eclipsing Pathaan (63.50 cr0re), Baahubali2 (80.75 crore), KGF2 (52.49 crore), Dangal (73.70 crore) and Sanju (62.97 crore). The trade figures for Ghoomer are yet to come in. But Abhishek Bachchan and Saiyami Kher are batting strongly at the crease in R. Balki’s inspiring sports drama. And the film is adding to the surge of cinegoers rushing once again to theatres for good cinema. Now only if the prices of popcorn and coffee would come down…