The Challenge Awaiting Mega Stars Once Theaters Open

The weeks when theaters reopen in India will be the true turning point of the entertainment business in our country. Will people be satisfied with the masala content in theaters after viewing quality content, or will they demand more from their heroes? Some actors might break under this pressure while others will thrive. Even film distributors will have to change their strategies to get audiences to come back to the theaters. With theater owners and film distributors pressuring the government for the opening of theaters in at-least the ‘safe-zones’ of the country, let’s talk about what this could mean to the film industry as a whole (if and when they get opened that is).

The film industry has moved on (to some extent), with most film makers adapting to the Covid-19 situation by releasing on OTT and VoD platforms. The ones mainly affected are the big-budget films starring heavyweight actors or Megastars, as their films have been collecting dust for at least a couple of months now. But there has been no shortage of good Indian content such as Special OPS, C U Soon and Panchayat among many others. Of course, that isn’t to say there haven’t been any flops too, but most have been low-key or experimental films which were worth the effort to create and watch.

But big budget films with acting heavyweights are different. Actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Vijay, Mohanlal, Mammootty etc. are revered by their fans and have reached Megastar status in their respective film industries. Some of them like Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan have even transcended to God level status in some communities. And they have all gained massive fan following by appearing on films showcased on the silver screen.

Because of this fan following, Indian film makers provide a lot of repeated (and outdated) fan-service such as introducing the main actors in a truly epic fashion/slo-mo or dancing with item girls at least half their age (All the above mentioned actors are above 50 or way past it, Vijay being the exception), crazy fight sequences that would make even Captain America jealous, etc. Of course, not all of them do it in all movies and even if they do do it, it is mostly for the fans. They have actually become a weird typecast of a ‘superstar’.

Of course movies such as Drishyam, Pink and Raees show that the actors themselves are willing to do serious roles if there is a proper script behind it. But the biggest issue they face is trying out new roles and not getting immediately rejected by their fans because of the lack of ‘epic masala’.

After over hundreds of quality Indian content coming out on many streaming platforms, during the lockdown and even for free in platforms such as Hotstar + Disney, the general movie going crowd have been treated to more quality story-telling than just regular masala. After all this decent content available and viewed by many among the Indian public, there is a good chance that Indian movie goers won’t be happy with just masala movies any more.