For India Inc, 2015 wasn't a great year, as it did not put up a not-so-good performance during the first half of the current fiscal. The third quarter looks no better, after the Chennai floods, sliding exports and falling imports that indicate low business activity. 

The message of not-so-achche din for the coming months was conveyed by the Narendra Modi government in its mid-year economic review when it revised the FY2016 GDP growth rate downward to 7-7.5% from 8-8.5% earlier.

Brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher, early this month, analysed the BSE200 universe of companies and said that in H1 FY2016, the net sales of these companies was down 3.3%, interest payments up 9% and profit after tax rose a paltry 0.4%.

"Obviously the second-quarter performance has not been up to the mark, and on the back of this, achieving the targeted earnings for FY16 is a tough ask," it warned. 

For showbiz, it has been just the opposite: A case of more than business as usual.

The two latest Bollywood releases — "Dilwale" and "Bajirao Mastani" — prove the point.

The 10-day box office collection of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Dilwale", also featuring Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon, is Rs 123 crore, while Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Bajirao Mastani" is closing the gap at Rs 120.45 crore, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

The 10-day overseas business of "Dilwale" has also been good, with the movie earning $16.7 million.

Other blockbusters of the year include "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" (worldwide box office collection Rs 432 crore), "Bajrangi Bhaijan" (worldwide BO collection Rs 626 crore) and S S Rajamouli's "Baahubali" (earnings Rs 580 crore). "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" and "ABCD 2" have also had decent earnings at the box office, notwithstanding that the country's many other businesses were not so buoyant.

 Globally, too, movies did well, with Walt Disney Co's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" becoming the fastest movie to cross $1 billion at the box office worldwide.

It's a different thing that the swelling coffers of the producers and distributors of these movies do not necessarily translate into good returns for retail investors, more so when the distributors and producers are listed entities.

For instance, Eros International Media, the global distributor of "Bajirao Mastani", has not seen its share price moving in tandem with the movie's rising box office collections. The share price closed 0.30% lower at Rs 235.05 on Monday.

From 18 December, the day the movie was released, the Eros stock has seen volatile movement, falling sharply from Rs 260 on the eventful Friday to Rs 248 on 21 December. It has since been trading sideways mostly.

Red Chilles Entertainment, the distributor of "Dilwale" and owned by Shah Rukh Khan, is not a listed entity. 

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