Mumbai crowds flow back to their beloved Bollywood

By Shilpa Jamkhandikar

MUMBAI (Reuters) - After a fortnight of playing to near empty cinemas, Bollywood is breathing a sigh of relief as a new Shah Rukh Khan film pulls in audiences in a city still recovering from November's deadly attacks.

Cinema audiences in movie-mad Mumbai fell to a trickle in the aftermath of last month's terror attacks in which 179 people were killed.

"People were so scared and the mood was so low that watching a movie at a theatre was out of the question," said industry analyst Amod Mehra.

"In the last two weeks, theatres have been running empty, more so in Mumbai, but also in the rest of the country."

But Khan, Bollywood's most bankable star, has worked his magic at the box-office.

In his new romantic comedy, he plays a boring introvert who gets a makeover, turning into a snazzy dancer to woo his wife.

Reviews for "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" have been far from glowing but that hasn't stopped audiences from flocking to cinemas to see the 43-year-old Khan in action.

"Our theatres were full at around 60 per cent on Friday and then went up to around 85 per cent over the weekend," said Shonali Shroff of Fame Cinemas.