Jaadugar was the most ambitious project by Netflix India in July. The film starring Jitendra Kumar, Arushi Sharma, and Javed Jaffrey is based on a man who is forced to win a football championship in order to win the love of his life.
But if we look at the views it earned on Netflix then they are simply pathetic. Yes, it managed to find a place in the top 10 most watched non-English films globally but it isn’t of much importance as watch hours are an actual measure of the performance of a film.
Last week, the film with 3,250,000 hours of views was the 7th most watched non-English film globally.
This week, it was revamped a little only to move one step ahead with 6th position and 4,120,000 hours of views.
But the question is why?
When films like RRR, Gangubai Kathiawadi and Bhool Bhulaiya 2 are doing so well even after a massive theatrical run, what’s so wrong with originals like Jaadugar or Thar?
Also, Netflix promoted the film pretty decently if not great. It is a well-known fact that Netflix only puts half as much effort into promoting Indian titles as much as they do in foreign films/series.
The answer is saturated content.
Bollywood has an endless list of social comedies like Jaadugar from the past decade. Chhalaang, Bareily Ki Barfi, and Bala are small films that have a social message in the backdrop. But the main plot is always a romantic comedy.
Seeing such an overly milked concept, again and again, is frustrating for the audience. Jaadugar would have been a great sleeper hit in 2018 but the pandemic has changed everything.
It’s high time Netflix and all the filmmaking companies realize it.
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