by Sourish Bhattacharyya, and Akshay Acharya Mumbai 17 Aug : Bollywood is facing an existential crisis that it’s never faced in its history.In a country where even the highest-end model of Mahindra XUV700 has a waiting time that extends to February 2024 and the latest date for an U.S.visa interview falls in June 2024, it is possible to go to an Hindi film screening at any time any time, since there is no one watching what’s being released out of Bollywood.
With a packed release calendar that starts with the heavy VFX-heavy ‘Brahmastra’ through the highly-anticipated film of Shah Rukh Khan “Jawan” (January 25 2023) and the Salman Khan-starring “Tiger 3” (April 21 2023) riding on its broken back, Bollywood is facing the double of of the established actors all appearing to be way beyond their sell-by dates and its scriptwriters seeming to be totally out of contact with the shift in consumer tastes.
The tanking of Aamir Khan’s “Laal Singh Chaddha as well as Akshay Kumar’s ‘Raksha’ (his third in succession) — all on a holiday weekend that lasted five days with no opposition from the South — has proven Bollywood for what it’s worth.
For the stars who are failing the picture on the wall won’t be any clearer.either reinvent yourself, or do as the ‘tragedy king’ Dilip Kumar did with his comedic re-invention in the blockbuster of 1967 “Ram Aur Shayam” (which is significant in the context of what’s happening now was a remake of the 1964 Telugu film “Ramudu Bheemudu”) or accept the shame of dying away.
Filmgoers flock to films with intriguing scripts.They have done it in recent decades from Shah Rukh’s “Darr” and “Baazigar,” to Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Kabir S and ‘Kabir Singh’ to the southern-themed hit machines ‘K.G.F.Chapter 2″, “RRR” and “Vikram’.Or , they simply love being transported into the world of fantasy which is the reason the ‘Baahubali’ movie franchise has been among the top of the highest grossers in India or, in the more recent past, Kichcha Sudeep’s 3D sci-fi thriller ‘Vikrant Rona’ performed so well.
It is because of this alone that “Dr.Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is doing better than many Hindi films of the year.
It is also the cause of the subsequent success of “Avengers: Infinity Wars’ (2018), ‘Avengers Endgame’ (2019) and ‘Spider-Man The Way Home’ (2022).
What are the facts which Bollywood refuses to awaken to? Analyst of trade Sumit Kadel offers the following reasons:
1.Bollywood is producing films for the urban elite market of multiplexes that excludes the mass market who’s budget for a trip to the cinema ranges between the range of Rs 60 and 150.It is this type of audience that has provided generations of Bollywood stars their blockbusters and superhits.
2.Even the crowd at the multiplex “now is looking forward to seeing movies that are worth, at first the travel time, and the price of tickets and food costs in theaters”.It’s more affordable for them to watch entertainment on OTT platforms, where a single password is shared with everyone in the family and the experience doesn’t require a transportation.”The typical monthly usage of multiplexes, which is not surprising has dropped to about 15 to 15,” Kadel commented.”That is the reason they are now forced to market popcorn at astronomical prices!”
3.The South is still a place of one-screen cinemas with tickets that are affordable which is why the films that come from the region — as well as also the stars that they feature draw huge attendance and this in turns creates the possibility of growing fan clubs that keep these cinemas in business.Add to that the interest these films receive from the South Indian diaspora across the world and you’ll understand the reason why their makers are having fun all the way to the bank.
4.Perhaps, most importantly, Bollywood seems to be completely out of in sync with the way that the proliferation of social media starting with YouTube to TikTok have changed the choices for entertainment of Indian viewers.This change of traditional entertainment habits will be further disrupted by the advent of 5G which, in the wake of the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address, has become a national goal.
“Indian audiences are not just exposed to the top of world cinema thanks to the Internet and social media, they also have snackable flash, micro and flash content in the form of Instagram reels as well as YouTube Vlogs,” Kadel pointed out.But do you think Bollywood been awakened by the ground slipping beneath its feet? It doesn’t seem so.
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