This Diwali, Bollywood has been praying more fervently than ever before to Lakshmi as the fate of two big franchise films—Singham Again and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3—hang in balance at the box office. Will both of them bring the fickle audience to theatres over the festive weekend, when ticket sales are meant to rise? Or will they split the viewers and eat into each other’s profits? Most importantly, will they help make a success of 2024, which has been marked by a slump after an incredible run in 2023? Or will it be back to the gloom and doom of the disastrous 2022 after the hope and cheer of Pathaan, Gadar 2, Animal and Jawan last year?
There has been only one genuine blockbuster so far in 2024—Stree 2, the sequel to another successful horror franchise—alongside a bunch of sleeper hits like Munjya and Crew. No one seems to be reliable any more—neither big stars and mega budgets, nor legacy production houses and top-rated directors. None can claim to know the pulse of the audience, be it Ajay Devgn with his Maidaan or Alia Bhatt and her Jigra. Even the hyper-masculine narratives that were a rage last year have come a cropper.
The only success stories of 2024 have been the hero next door like Rajkummar Rao and Dinesh Vijan’s production company Maddock Films that has been raining horror hits like Bhediya, Stree and Munjya, enough to have launched the desi Maddock Supernatural Universe (MSU) of Hindi horror-comedies with Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer vampire tale Thama coming up in Diwali 2025.
To be fair, it’s not the first time that Bollywood has been crisis-hit. Back in 2002, nothing worked in theatres except three films—Devdas, Raaz and Kaante. Years 2020 and 2021 proved to be zeroes because of the pandemic, with 2022 also offering no signs of recovery. But things have been dire this year, with the lack of audience and cancellation of shows becoming a rule rather than exceptions.
All this pessimism will be forgotten if the Diwali releases rake in the moolah. But it’s an immutable fact that Bollywood’s cup of woes is brimming over primarily because of the industry’s inability to respond to the massive shift in the audience’s viewing habits and expectations, during and post pandemic and the changing dynamics of the business of entertainment with streaming platforms gaining ground over theatres. Several tricks have been tried to set the balance right, like the National Cinema Day observed on September 20, with tickets sold as cheap as `99 across the country. However, the one-off event is certainly not financially sustainable for theatres on a regular basis.
The ripple effects of the flop shows have been many. All-round uncertainty and lack of confidence has meant a tighter check on cash flow and apprehensions about backing new projects. Some upcoming productions have been rethought and redone with budgets cut; several have got delayed and some have been axed. Such has been the dearth of content that the theatres had to recently resort to re-releasing old fan favourites like Rockstar and Laila Majnu.
No wonder, the apprehensions about financial health peaked with the news of vaccine king Adar Poonawalla’s Serene Production shelling out Rs 1,000 crore to buy a 50 percent stake in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, one of the most influential Bollywood studios.
At the heart of the crisis is the outmoded structure and process of filmmaking in Mumbai that is marked by an overwhelming power imbalance. The burden of business—both the movie making and viewing cultures—rests with just a few tentpole films, popular directors and stars, usually male. However, these stars aren’t shining as bright, offering no assurance of success any more despite accounting for 30-40 percent of a film’s cost. This is at a time inflation has pushed up costs.
When it comes to the viewers, going out to watch a film is not a habit anymore, with a decrease in spending power and an undeclared economic downturn. Isn’t it time then for Bollywood to get more serious about the small-but-solid earners and long-distance runners like 12th Fail and OMG2?
Bollywood has also had to face the tough challenge thrown by southern commercial cinema and the sway of the multilingual, pan-India films like Kalki 2898 AD and Devara 1. Korean dramas and content-driven Malayalam films, like Manjummel Boys, have also found a ready audience. The most looked-forward-to film, to hopefully end the year with a bang, is not some Hindi potboiler, but Pushpa 2.
The tale of woes has extended to streaming platforms, which have turned stagnant with a cutback on fresh commissions. Lucrative premieres are a thing of past and acquisition deals are getting determined by box office performances. In this chicken-and-egg situation, films dropping early, with a shorter gap between theatrical and streaming releases, are making the audience wait to watch a film at home.
Many feel this was inevitable and hope it heralds a course correction with rationalisation of budgets, rethink on the star system and investment on script-writers and stories. Ultimately, Bollywood will have to deliver good content—not necessarily cinematically, but the kind which stirs curiosity to merit a visit to the theatre and is engaging enough for repeat viewing.
The big picture of the Bollywood box office is best summed up in a popular dialogue from The Dirty Picture: “Filmein sirf teen cheezon ki wajah se chalti hain: entertainment, entertainment, entertainment (Films work only due to three things: entertainment, entertainment, entertainment).”
Namrata Joshi
Consulting Editor
Follow her on X @Namrata_Joshi