Why the next few months raise Bollywood's hopes for a faster revival

Can Bollywood, battered for nearly two years by Covid, get back on its feet and hit the magic 2019 box office figure of Rs 11,000 crore?

Last week, the industry was cautiously hopeful that it can do so by calendar 2022. And the reason for the optimism is the unprecedented response to Rohit Shetty-directed Sooryavanshi, the first big budget film (Rs 270 crore) to release after a 19-month hiatus on the big screen.

With a huge first day opening, the movie hit box office collections of Rs 125 crore in a week. Said Shibasish Sarkar, former group CEO at Reliance Entertainment and