Who said for a movie to be successful one needs to have superstars, scenic foreign locations and super masaledaar script...? Not any more... For, audience these days are most welcome to stories and cast that are genuine and closer homer.

The year 2013 has been proven extremely well for small films in Bollywood. On one hand several big ticket films have had roaring success at the box office and at the same time small films have also managed to rake moolah quite evidently.

Small films like ‘Fukrey’, ‘Kai Po Che’, ‘Mere Dad Ki Maruti’, ‘Chashme Badoor’, ‘Commando’, ‘Aashiqui 2’, ‘Raanjhnaa’, ‘Ship Of Theseus’, ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’, ‘The Lunchbox’, etc. have set an example for small budget films which have performed successfully at the Box office this year.

One has to note that largely all the small films have been set in small towns. The stories and writers are stemming from the heartland and are being accepted by the audiences.

For example - YRF’s ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ was set in Jaipur, ‘Fukrey’ was set in Jamnapar, ‘Raanjhnaa’ was set in Banaras, ‘Commando’ was set in Himachal Pradesh.

Moreover, big production houses and producers have started backing up small films to a great extent. The best example to this would be Excel Entertainment who has earlier released films like ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Talaash’ have also made their foray into the heartland.

The stories from smaller cities in India, have a unique flavour and ethos which the audiences across are finding unique and refreshing.

Also to aid these films, the digital reach has benefited all the above films. The marketing of these films has become wide with the digital impetus. So more and more audiences can sample the content and the increase awareness gets more footfalls in cinemas.

All in all, 2013 has been a great year for films - big or small. Good content is being appreciated and watched by audiences.