Keemat failed to recover its costs, Qila collapsed, Zor disproved its title, Vinaashak self-destructed, the Rs 20-crore Jeans faded without a trace, and Salaakhen, Saat Rang Ke Sapne, Aunty No 1, and Duplicate, the multi-crore turkeys, are fast stacking up. There's no time to cheer about Bollywood's new-found industry status, and an aghast industry is wondering if an end is in sight to this battering of egos, careers, reputations and banners.

``Over 95 per cent of releases have been disasters, I can't think of a worse period in the history of Hindi cinema,'' sighs Taran Adarsh, editor of the industry's Bible, Trade Guide.

So what's the reason? Industry watcher Amod Mehra feels it's just a case of bad films being rejected by the audience. ``Secondly, none of them have anygood music on the scale of a Dil To Paagal Hai or a Raja Hindustani.''

The list of disasters has even forced some distributors out of business. D Y Patni, a distributor who owns 82 theatres in Gujarat, has stopped buying more films after burning himself with Zor and Salaakhen.

Piracy, fuelled by an influx of foreign video CDs is another reason for the disasters, says a distributor who was shocked to see his cablewallah playing a crystal-clear print of Aunty No 1 in the second week of the film's release. ``With the high prices of movie tickets, the masses now watch movies at home, while the classes splurge in theatres,'' Mehra feels.

The success list is tiny. Salman Khan's baring act, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, is the only oasis. Mira Nair's Kamasutra did decent business, but doesn't quite qualify, being a dubbed film. Chhota Chetan, a reworked 15-year-old 3D film, is another hit.

But English films have never had it so good. Titanic is running tofull houses into its 13th week in ten theatres. Trade pundits point out the film is repeating the Hum Aapke Hain Kaun trend -- opening with limited copies and gradually flooding the market with prints.

Comparisons with Bollywood don't end here. Adarsh was pleasantly surprised last month when an American visa officer at a US airport told him Titanic could well have been a Hindi film, what with its rich girl meets poor boy theme.

Titanic has already grossed over 17 crore all over India and is set to dethrone Jurassic Park from its perch as the topmost grossing English film. ``We decided not to dub the film into Hindi when we saw even the traditional Hindi audience was flocking to see this film,'' says 20th Century Fox's Paresh Manjrekar.

The critically acclaimed LA Confidential has completed 10 weeks at Sterling. Air Force One, Face Off, and the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding have run for over 10 weeks each before bowing out. While industryanalysts aren't calling this a Hollywood victory yet, they admit English films have started making deeper inroads. Meanwhile, in the pipeline are Hindi blockbusters which will see release from June through August: Dushman, Gharwali Baharwali, Achaanak, Ghulam, Major Saab, Satya, Kareeb, Pyar to Hona Hi Tha, Prem Aggan, and Bade Miya Chhote Miya. Each one has king-sized expectations, and a worried industry hopes a couple of these will work wonders.