2022 has been nothing less than a nightmare for Bollywood. Apart from Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, The Kashmir Files, and Brahmāstra: Part One Shiva, no film came out to be successful.
Very few such as Jug Jugg Jeeyo were mediocre and the rest were utter disasters. Yesterday, on the occasion of Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday, Yash Raj Films released the teaser of Pathaan and it got a monstrous response.
It is a really well-cut teaser and even created some records on both YouTube and Twitter.
Given the pathetic state of YRF films, the dominance of the studio heavily rests on the success of Pathaan.
And it is all great. But what about Bollywood as a whole?
Bollywood has been the single largest film industry in India for about 7 long decades but the last two years have really shown that if they don’t work on their content then they simply won’t survive.
Boycott calls, cancel culture and everything is nothing but a joke. They won’t leave any significant impact on the business of movies and exist solely amongst Facebook uncles and Twitter trends. Otherwise, Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Brahmāstra won’t ever be so successful in minting money.
There are several factors that are pulling down BO collections and the biggest among them is content.
Too many remakes, and average storylines are the biggest villains Bollywood needs to defeat.
We never get something as mind-blowing as RRR or Kantara from Bollywood. Why is it so?
Pathaan is not equal to Bollywood. Big-budget action films like Pathaan, Tiger 3, or Fighter are not enough for the industry to survive.
The industry will survive as it did in 2018 when even a small budget but brilliant original film like Andhadhun would earn stacks of notes at the Box Office.
Small to medium-budget films are what any industry lays the foundation for big-budget films. Bollywood needs to not only understand but adopt that in its way of working.