mumbai the magic of cinema did not work wonders for the hindi film industry in the first year of the new millennium when the sagging fortunes of filmmakers were further eroded with the boxoffice recording the highest number of flops it was a disastrous year with barely a handful of the 155 movies released the highest in recent years managing to set the cash counters jingling however a glimmer of hope was provided with the appreciation of lagaan and gadar produced by aamir khan and zee network respectively both new entrants in the production sector which notched up unprecedented collections in the country and abroad and set a rush among producers to tap patriotic themes as a winning formula for success the boxoffice success of gadar worked wonders for the careers of director anil sharma and hero sunny deol who signed several new films to be back into reckoning after ashutosh gowarikerdirected lagaan had a glorious run at the boxoffice the movie earned the distinction of being selected as indias official entry to the oscars in the best foreign language film category it was a dingdong battle for supremacy between lagaan and gadar in terms of collections in the metropolis the hub of the film trade with the latter edging out lagaan to register astronomical revenue for zee which also made its foray into the distribution sector under banner of ecity films acquiring bawandar and little john for allindia release chandni bar in which tabu gave a polished performance mujhe kucch kehna hai marking the debut of jeetendras son tushar dil chahta hai ajnabi and indian managed to be commissionearners with moderate success at the boxoffice the yearender release kabhi khushi kabhie gham made with the biggest budget of rs 35 crore and biggest starcast comprising superstars amitabh bachchan shah rukh khan and hrithik roshan had a stupendous opening with a record 600 prints released all over the world 400 in india and 200 abroad according to trade pundits the film has grossed over million dollars in just three days in the us and collected 473355 pounds by the first weekend of its release in uk however there were mixed reports about the films response in small cities and towns making trade analysts wonder if it could sustain in the long run the colossal failures during the year at the boxoffice were subhash ghais yaadein shah rukh khans one two ka four and asoka jeetendras kyunkii main jhoot nahin bolta yeh raaste hain pyar ke sunil shetty starrers yeh tera ghar yeh mera ghar and ehsaas tera mera sath rahen amisha patels yeh zindagi ka safar fardeen khan starrer love ke liye kuch bhi karega bas itna khwaab hai lajja kamal hassans abhay gaja gamini deewanapan and moksha among the actors aamir khan with lagaan and dil chahta hai stayed afloat along with sunny deol with gadar and indian to emerge frontrunners amisha patel was the most in demand among heroines after the mega success