Bollywood has seen an unusually versatile and prosperous half year from January to June 2005.

In what started off as another disastrous year with a string of flops, Hindi moviedom has seen numerous pieces and masterpieces of innovative cinema during the six months.

And to think that the year started with dollops of disaster with this year's first four releases.

Vashu Bhagnani's "Vaada", Pooja Bhatt's "Rog", Vikram Bhatt's "Elaan" and S. Subhash's "Insaan" were star-studded duds.

Then came Subhash Ghai's "Kisna". Panned and rejected unanimously, it looked like just one more flop-filled year for Bollywood... until "Page 3" happened.

At the end of January we got Madhur Bhandarkar's surprise success. A scathing if somewhat scattered peep into Mumbai's murky yet glamorous beau-monde carpeted by some of the most innovative performances ever, "Page 3" stunned everyone, including the director, by becoming a huge money spinner. The film's producer Sahara One reeling under the impact of multiple flops breathed a sigh of relief.

Hindi cinema in 2005 tasted blood. It now wanted to go for the kill. It did so with tremendous verve and skill in February when Sanjay Leela Bhansali's immeasurably evocative "Black" was released.

Dismissed initially as a 'multiplex classic', "Black" shocked the naysayers by becoming a hit across the board.

If "Page 3" paved the way, "Black" categorically proved the power of celluloid to change lives and influence tastes.

The trend continues. A cursory glance shows 2005 has so far been dotted with an impressive number of quality-conscious films, sometimes the two usually exclusive spheres of activity (quality and success) coming together in unexpected ways.

The roster of path-breaking films this year is staggering. Besides the Big Two - "Page 3" and "Black" - we have a rare bio-pic (Shyam Benegal's "Bose: The Forgotten Hero"), a road film about a modern day Bonnie & Clyde pair ("Bunty Aur Babli"), a sensitive look at a swimmer's efforts to grapple with AIDS ("My Brother Nikhil"), a Bengali literary classic ("Parineeta"), a Rajasthani folk tale ("Paheli"), supernatural thriller about a cornea crisis ("Naina"), a film about an autistic father's battle for child custody ("Main Aisa Hi Hoon"), a scathing look at the politics before and during Emergency ("Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi"), a war epic that subsumes territorial scuffles across four decades ("Tango Charlie"), a dark thriller about an assassin and a showgirl ("Karam"), a film about a writer, his seductive wife and a besotted suitor ("Shabd") and, believe it or not, a flick about a eunuch politician ("Shabnam Mausi").

All this in just the first half of the year. And the best, as they say, is yet to come. The second half of the year begins with Ram Gopal Varma's "Sarkar".

Says Madhur Bhandarkar: "It'd an amazing time to be making movies. I wouldn't like to be born in any other era. In which other period can we have Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Farhan Akhtar, Yash Chopra and Amol Palekar all making films together?"

Bhandarkar is all set to launch his eagerly watched post-Page 3 movie. "'Corporate' is a look at the business world, its machinations, manipulations and subversions. I want Aishwarya Rai to play the lead, if she'll agree."

Rai, who played the unconventional role of a woman used as bait to ensue a 'story' by her writer-husband in "Shabd", is game for challenges.

"We can't have conventional films any longer. Somewhere the audience is satiated with the expected. I love the idea of "Page 3", "Black", "Shabd" and "Raincoat" happening all together. Really, what a boon for actors! And if you look at these films, all of them have female-centric plots," she says.

So who says it's a man's world? One of the many outstanding offshoots of the year's most happening films is that they break conventions in plot and characterisation.

If Rani Mukherjee in "Black" was the first physically challenged heroine of Hindi cinema who dared to ask her teacher for a kiss to feel like a woman, Sanjay Suri in "My Brother Nikhil" was Indian cinema's first 'normal' gay hero.

And if Abhishek Bachchan in "Bunty Aur Babli" was a comic con-man, Mallika Sherawat in "Bachke Rehna Re Baba" was Indian cinema's first con woman with such conspicuous vital assets.

After 2005, Hindi cinema will never look back again.