"Bollywood films lack imagination" "and the age-old Bollywood drama," "has now dried up. " "Bollywood has lost its soul. " "And is slowly killing itself.
" "The reliable ninja technique of making remakes of Tamil and Telugu films" "doesn't work anymore because people can watch the original films. " "The actors think about their bank balance. " "The producers think of getting people to watch their films.
" "No one actually cares about Bollywood. " "leaves no more possibility" "that a film like Bheja Fry made on a budget of ₹5. 4 million," "merely through word-of-mouth publicity," "be a hit at the box office, and earn ₹125 million.
" "A problem that was gradually hollowing out this industry from within. " Hello, friends! About a couple of years ago, everyone was talking about this topic.
Is Bollywood coming to an end? Are we nearing the end of Bollywood? But then came the year 2023.
Shahrukh Khan released 3 films. Jawan, Pathan, and Dunki. And these brought a tsunami at the box office.
They broke many box office records. With these, a new life was breathed into Bollywood. After these, came Tiger 3, Rocky Rani Ki Prem Kahani, Oh My God 2, Dram Girl 2, Sam Bahadur, these films raked in a lot of money.
If we talk about films in other Indian languages, in 2021, the share of Hindi films, that is Bollywood's share in overall Indian box office was only 19%. But in 2023, it increased to 44%. From Gadar 2 to Stree 2, Bollywood kept breaking new records one after the other.
That's why the discussion of Bollywood's end is almost over. Very few people are now doubting the survival of the Bollywood industry. But today, in this video, I would like to raise this question again.
Because behind all these box office records, there lies a bitter truth. A truth which makes me say that Bollywood has lost its soul. And is slowly killing itself.
The reason isn't what you might think. But you will start seeing the consequences soon. In this video, let's understand the story of Bollywood's downfall.
The first reason is obvious. The shock to Bollywood during Covid. "A total lockdown to protect you.
" "Coronavirus is causing devastation in India. " Due to the lockdowns and restrictions, people couldn't go to cinema halls; and people got into the habit of watching films at home on their screens. During this time, OTT platforms saw unprecedented growth.
Their advantage was that people could watch numerous films at a fraction of the cost. A while later, free OTT platforms were introduced. People didn't need to pay anything.
They could watch films for free by watching some ads. Like on Amazon Mini TV. Now, Amazon has bought MX Player, and merged Amazon Mini TV with it to form Amazon MX Player.
OTT platforms like this are based on advertisement-revenue model. Similar to YouTube. Ads would play during the content, but you'll get to watch the content for free.
Not only can you watch the classics like 1972's Aankh Micholi for free, but you can also get access to regional language content including in Tamil, Telgu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bhojpuri, and Punjabi. Even world cinema like Mulan, Chinese Zodiac, Dark Space, you can watch them in Hindi over here. Many films and shows are available dubbed in Hindi.
Like Do You Know, Animal Embassy, The Long Ballad. All of this is available for free on Amazon MX Player. And so, the problems for the Bollywood industry kept on increasing.
With internaitonal films on one hand and regional films on the other, Bollywood faced competition from both sides. Along with it, there was a new problem within Bollywood festering for years. A problem that was gradually hollowing out this industry from within.
The rising corporatisation. Friends, you might remember this video I made during Adipurush's release. In it, I told you how many film producers are moving towards corporatisation.
They want to make the least amount of effort and earn the most profit. And so they have come up with a formula for creating a hit film. What is this formula?
First, don't try anything new. Keep doing what is proven to work for as long as it works. Second, make action films.
With a lot of power-packed violence. Make sequels. Remake super hit films.
Make a remake of an old song to put it in your film. Cast superstars in lead roles. And for the side roles, cast only those actors who have a good face value.
Fourth, copy Hollywood films. Their stories, their scenes, their scripts; copy it all. Fifth, don't question people's negative mindset.
Don't show society a mirror. No need to make a thought-provoking film. Rather, appease people's mindset.
Sixth, have no long profound scenes in the film. People's attention span has decreased. So everything should be fast-paced.
Seventh, everything should be larger than life. Big stars, big sets, big locations, big budget, and a lot of VFX. And the eighth and last rule, spend a lot of money on the film's marketing.
Spend so much money that everyone talks about your film. As the result of this 'formula,' films are becoming 'Blockbusters,' they're breaking all records, but the films aren't memorable. The films that touch your heart, force you to think, and the ones you want to watch again and again, such films are disappearing.
If we look at the list of the top 10 highest-grossing Hindi films, then 4 out of these 10 films were from 2023, and 1 is from 2024. At the top, you can see Jawan and Pathan. Now, the good thing about the film Jawan is that a mainstream film dared to show social issues.
I had praised it in this video. But if we talk about it in terms of film-making, screenplay, acting, direction; in terms of these, then Jawan was a mediocre film. This is also true for the film Pathan as well.
It was an average and mediocre film. If we talk about the top 50 films, then Shahrukh Khan's Dunki, Dilwale, and Happy New Year are on the list. If you compare them with Shahrukh Khan's old films, then where do these highest-grossing films stand?
Think about it yourself. On the one hand, you have films like Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Dil Se, Kal Ho Na Ho, Mohabbatein, Swades, Devdas, and Chak De India. And on the other hand, you have these films.
Pathaan, Jawan, Dilwale, and Happy New Year. This clear-cut divide is apparent with almost all top actors. Look at Salman Khan's graph.
Among his top 50 highest-grossing films are, Tiger 3, Tiger Zinda Hai, and Kick. Can these be compared to his older films? Maine Pyar Kiya, Saajan, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam?
In fact, the 2015 film Bajrangi Bhaijaan was superb. But after that, he starred in Race 3, Dabangg 3, Radhe, Antim, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. A series of terrible films, trying to copy the hit formula.
This list of top 50 highest-grossing Indian films includes many such films. Dhoom 3, Simba, Tiger 3, Saaho. There would be hardly anyone whose all-time favourite film is one of these.
After hearing these, you might want to assume that only mediocre films can appease the masses, or that only they can be blockbusters. But no. If you look at the list of the highest-grossing films adjusted for inflation, on this list, every film is a unique gem.
These films are among the all-time favourites of many people. Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay, Mother India, Naya Daur, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Ganga Jamuna, and Sangam. These films have a proper story, emotions, and substance.
Not a single film out of these can be called a superficial, time-pass, or mediocre. So the question is, can today, 'meaningful quality cinema' be one of the criteria for the producers? Look at this tweet by filmmaker Shekhar Kapur.
This filmmaker is known for films like Masoom, Mr India, and Bandit Queen. He wrote that 25 years ago Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopal Verma, and he predicted that corporations would soon control their creativity if the directors don't come together to counter the corporate power. The film Dil Se was the first such collaboration.
And, unfortunately, it was the last. Veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam wrote the screenplay and directed Dil Se, and Shekhar Kapur was one of its co-producers. Anurag Basu, who made films like Murder, Gangster, Life in a Metro, Barfi, and Jagga Jasoos, said that studios are the ones who decide what to make.
Even if the directors have a subject and an idea for the script, the studio doesn't necessarily agree to it. Often, they don't. Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who gave Hindi cinema excellent films like Ankur, Nishant, and Manthan, considers studio-backed films as a factory line.
Bollywood screenwriter Chirag Garg says that once upon a time, writers wrote films with passion. But today, the writing department has turned into a cricket team. Everything happens mechanically.
It is not as if this trend of corporatisation is prevalent only in the Bollywood industry. To a lesser extent, Hollywood is going through this too. People are asking whether films have VFX or if VFX are turned into films.
After Avengers Endgame, many of the Marvel movies were accused of these. With the only aim of making money. No story, no creativity.
But the thing is, when Hollywood's corporatisation clashes with Bollywood's corporatisation, Hollywood will be the victor. Because they have bigger budgets, more VFX, and bigger sets, making it difficult to compete with Hollywood. And this lack of money has become the next reason for Bollywood's decline.
You might think that Bollywood won't have any monetary issues. These actors are millionaires, they own luxury cars, live in expensive houses. But, friends, there is a lack of money.
I'm not talking about any individual actor, director or producer in the industry. There's a dangerous level of inequality in Bollywood. According to Ormax Media Report, 2023 was the best ever year for Indian box office in terms of earnings.
Approximately 1,000 films were released and the Indian box office earned a total of ₹122. 26 billion. But 40% of this total earnings were earned by only the top 1% of the films.
For the small and medium-budget films with no well-known actors, it is getting very difficult for them to be profitable. In Forbes India, Prasanta Patwa wrote that in the year 2023, there were hardly 5 films of small or medium-budget which could earn a significant profit. In fact, many such mass-appeasing films which were chasing the hit formula, turned out to be a flop.
You know about the Adipurush disaster. Tiger Shroff's film Ganapath, was made on a budget of ₹2 billion, could earn only ₹100 million. Kartik Aryan's film Shehzada flopped.
Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi's film Selfie, was made on a budget of ₹1 billion, and earned only ₹240 million. Kangana Ranaut's film Tejas was made on a budget of ₹700 million but it earned only ₹60 million. Things were the same in 2024 too.
Many films chasing this hit formula flopped. John Abraham's action film Vedaa flopped. Akshay Kumar's Sarfira and Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan flopped.
This second film was made on a budget of ₹3. 5 billion. This film had so much action, big sets, the entire formula, but the film could earn only ₹1.
02 billion. Where is the problem? One of the reasons is the competition from OTT.
The reliable ninja technique of making remakes of Tamil and Telugu films doesn't work anymore because people can watch the original films. The second reason is the inflated fees of the Bollywood superstars. Half of the film's budget is spent on paying one film star.
Look at this article from ABP News. This film, Akshay Kumar's Khel Khel Mein, had many actors and actresses. The budget for this film was around ₹1 billion.
Out of this ₹1 billion, ₹600 million was spent on paying Akshay Kumar's fees. 60% of the film's budget goes to only one actor. The remaining actors got negligible fees compared to this.
And then think about how much money would be left to spend on the film's story, direction, screenplay, and the dialogues. This film earned a total of around ₹570 million on a budget of ₹1 billion. Had the fees not been this high, this film might not have flopped, it could have been a hit.
This article in Business Standard states that not only Hindi film lead actors, but the lead actors in South Indian films are also charging anywhere between ₹1 billion to ₹2 billion for a film. According to this report by News18, Kriti Sanon got ₹30 million for the film Adipurush, whereas Prabhas got ₹1. 5 billion!
If they spend ₹1. 5 billion just on one actor, where will they get the money to spend on CGI and VFX? So, the point is, if people have the option of watching Avengers films, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings or Avatar, then why would people choose to watch Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan?
A movie with two actors who don't know how to act and the overdone story of two heroes saving the world from an evil scientist. You might feel that the superstar film actors are greedy for money. These people who can sell tobacco products and alcohol to get some more money can do surrogate ads and can promote the gambling and betting ads, why would they not charge more and more for films?
Secondly, since this game is based on greed, then why won't these people be greedy? It is the greed of those film studios who pay millions and billions to these so-called 'superstars' in the hope that their films will earn ₹5 billion. That's why they are ready to pay so much to these actors.
The budget of the film Chhote Miyan Bade Miyan was ₹3. 5 billion. With that much money, 15 amazing films could have been made.
But even the producers run after short-term quick gains. They don't think about long-term sustainable business. Trade analyst Komal Nahta said that no one is thinking about the industry at large.
The actors think about their bank balance. The producers think of getting people to watch their films. No one actually cares about the industry.
He said that it made him quite sad. Bollywood films lack imagination and the age-old Bollywood drama, has now dried up. There's no Indian element to it.
Bihar-based film exhibitor Vishek Chauhan told Indian Express that Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan was like an older Hollywood film. He says that a film should be a total package. With music, content, emotion, everything.
On the other hand, OTT platforms like Amazon MX Player understand the needs of the Indian viewers, and bring them new content. People are attracted to it because of its huge library of content and videos. On Amazon NX Player you will get your fill of international content dubbed in Hindi.
Such as kDrmas. On this weekend, if you want to watch a Mandarin drama or a kDrma, you can watch I Belong To Your World. This is the story of Qi Yue, a directionless girl, who is visited by her future son Qi Shuo.
He warns her about her unhappy future, and helps her change her future. It's an interesting story. You can use the link in the description to start watching it.
Here, I'd like to thank Amazon MX Player, for sponsoring this video. And talking about emotion, people got their fill of emotions from Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film, 12th Fail. This film was up in the cinemas for 25 weeks.
This film was made on a budget of ₹200 million and earned ₹700 million. This film was a hit because of some great marketing push. Rather it got word of mouth publicity.
People loved it and told their friends and family to go watch it. Laapataa Ladies was made on a budget of ₹40-50 million, and it collected ₹250 million worldwide. And in terms of viewership, once it was released on Netflix, it overtook films made on a 40 times more budget.
This film showed the same innocence, emotion, and something meaningful. If any of these two films had a superstar actor who charged millions of rupees as fees then these films wouldn't have been profitable today. But the problem is that such films are getting rarer every year.
Javed Akhtar said something interesting related to this topic. Amitabh Bachchan's angry young man character in the 1980s films, its anger was based on a deep wound. When that character got angry you could feel his pain through the screen.
But then people chose to ignore the wound and keep the anger. Today's man, what's his responsibility towards society, his friends, his family or himself? He asked, where can one draw the line to selfishness?
This is why there are no great characters anymore, only great actors. Some of you might not know that the duo of Salim and Javed have written memorable films like Haathi Mere Sathi, Sholay, Zanjeer, Deewar, Don, Shakti, Kranti, Mr India. Isn't it logical that to shortlist scripts, film studios should have senior creative people like Javed Akhtar in the creative team?
But due to the rapid corporatisation in the industry, their place is taken by 24 or 25-year-old corporate MBAs. All of this is because of the greed of these studios and their so-called creative team. Otherwise, there is no dearth of talented actors, writers, or filmmakers in Bollywood today.
There are so many. And they want to do good work too. On the release of his film LSD2, Dibakar Banerjee had said that his film got a limited release, because a big-budget film that wasn't even doing well, had pre-booked all screens.
It's all a game of power. Before this, in an interview with Samdish Bhatia he had said that independent cinema is being systematically sideline. "It's quite an interesting piece of cinema history, that ₹100 Crore Club, and telling the audience that this film has made ₹100 Crore, therefore, you should see this film.
They are telling people not to watch Indie films, because they make less money. And to watch films that make money. Never before have the audience been told which film made how much money.
" Dibakar's film Tees, which was commissioned by Netflix, wasn't allowed to be released claiming that it wasn't the right time to release this film. "It doesn't fit our slate. " Dibakar said that he is going around requesting people to buy this film from Netflix, so that it can get a release.
They say the same about Anurag Kashyap's film Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat. No one realised when this film was released. Friends, this is the next big problem.
Independent films, films made on small budgets, it is increasingly difficult to get them a release in the theatres. They don't get any prime time slots. Often they don't even get a week at the cinema halls.
If they don't get the time, if people don't get the chance to go and watch these films at the cinema halls, how will they get word of mouth publicity? If such a film gets released in cinemas on Friday at a selected few cinema halls, and 3 days later, these films are replaced. While talking to journalist Anil Sharda, filmmaker Anees Bazmi called this trend unfortunate.
"Take Dilwale Dulhaniya, or perhaps Sooraj Barjatiya's first film, they got famous 2-3 weeks later by word-of-mouth publicity. Films don't get that chance today. Dil Wale Dulhania Le Jayenge is considered a classic today but when it was first released in cinema halls, it had a slow start.
Had it had been treated like today's films, it would have been thrown out of the cinema hall after a few days and would never have become a classic. Over the last few years, there were so many films which won national or international awards, but didn't get the opportunity to release in our cinema halls. Like this film, All That Breathes.
It won so many awards internationally. Or this film on freedom fighter Khudiram Bose, that was screened during te 53rd International Film Festival of India, but wasn't shown in cinema halls. On top of that, the next problem is that movie tickets have become so expensive.
In Delhi, there is no cinema hall for the poor people where they can watch a movie at a reasonable rate. At one time, going to the cinemas was a weekly activity for the middle class. Now, it has become like going to a picnic once in a few months.
These superstars are banking on this 'onc-time picnic' to show their larger-than-life films. This system of big budgets, big actors, big sets, big films, expensive tickets, and expensive popcorn leaves no more possibility that a film like Bheja Fry made on a budget of ₹5. 4 million, merely through word-of-mouth publicity, could earn ₹125 million.
Sujoy Ghosh's film Kahaani, was made on a budget of ₹80 million, and raked in ₹1. 04 billion. Badhaai Ho was based on a unique concept was made on a budget on ₹290 million, earned ₹2.
19 billion. The possibility of such success is almost disappearing. And there are many examples of such films, even 10-15 years ago, people loved Bollywood because of such films.
These films breathed a soul into Bollywood. These unique films made on a small budget, are from the time when Bollywood experimented with different genres. There were many horror films.
There were animated films too. Bollywood experimented with superhero films. Even on themes like aliens, there were films like Koi Mil Gaya.
In the last 5 years, you will hardly find 2-3 examples of films that were from different varieties of genres. Broadly speaking, the films that we are getting now, are based on only 3 genres. Melodramatic action, melodramatic comedy or melodramatic patriotic films.
The diversity and variety in movies is declining year after year. Bollywood doesn't make films for kids anymore. The point isn't whether the films were good or bad, whether they were successful or flop, the point is, Bollywood is losing its soul.
Today, when such films don't get the chance at a theatre release, they are labelled as an "OTT film. " But now, many OTT platforms agree to release a film only after its successful run at the box office. OTT platforms want to see the box office performance of the films before deciding the suitable price at which they would buy the film.
But the problem is that such films do not get a fair chance to compete at the box office. Karl Marx said that Capitalism carries its seeds of destruction. In Bollywood's case, this statement is proving to be true.
Monopoly is rising because of the greed of film studios. And because of this monopoly, the Bollywood industry is sinking. Roy Kapur Films' founder and managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur said that films with small budget oil the wheels of the industry.
If only a few big blockbuster films are made in a year, then it will not be a sustainable industry in future. This industry won't have the workforce to support itself. What is the solution to all this?
It is easy to say but very difficult to implement. Bollywood's entire ecosystem will have to be more inclusive. Low-budget films need to be given space.
From production to the release, small-budget films need to be supported. A low budget would mean more films can be made with the same money. More people will get jobs.
Due to low cost, tickets will be cheaper and with cheaper tickets, the size of the audience will be bigger. Poor people will also get a chance to go to cinema halls. Middle class will go to watch films more frequently.
The production houses of these superstars can also do this. Like Aamir Khan's production house made the film Laapata Ladies. A content-driven, small-budget film.
For now, let's hope that Bollywood's big bosses watch this video and Bollywood goes back to creating content-driven, unique, meaningful films with good music, songs, and acting. Because this is the only way to save our Hindi film industry, Bollywood. You can click here to watch the video on Adipurush, in which I have explained this topic in more detail.
Thank you very much!
