Apart from India’s GDP economy, the Bollywood movie industry has suffered the greatest loss. In 2019, the year before Covid-19 hit India, 10 films were made originally in Hindi, which earned a massive profit of more than 150 crore INR. In 2022, five of the ten movies released till August end are dubbed. Out of which, only four movies have earned more than 150 crores INR, and two of the movies are dubbed movies.
Now the question arises why the sudden change in fortune of Hindi Cinemas? The last few months were difficult for Bollywood. From falling into the potholes of boycott movie trends with every other movie to delivering box office flops, the film industry is struggling to get back into its glorious days.
We have reached almost the end of 2022, but Bollywood has recorded a profit in only three movies: The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, and Gangubai Kathiawadi.
The movie farewell is equipped with versatile technicians and actors. Despite that, the Hindi Film industry is lagging.
What could be the major reason that people have given up on Bollywood movies?
One of the crucial reasons could be attributed to the lack of originality. Remakes are a clever way of gaining profits from the original movie’s fan following.
But, the film offers no new plots. The storyline is already predictable. As a result, people don’t see the worth of spending twice on a storyline they know. While Kabir Singh was an exception, many movies failed to thrive in the race of remaking.
Music is one of the factors that make people inclined toward watching a movie. But Bollywood is lacking in this arena as well. Soulful, melodious tracks of Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik have been switched over by the autotuned songs of wannabe rappers and lyrics that do not mean anything at all.
Pop culture has existed in India, and people used to enjoy it, but Tony Kakkar’s cringe lyrics are unpleasant on so many levels. Moreover, the songs have a shorter shelf life.
The choice of actors could be another reason. After Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, people started to question actors’ worth and if they were suited for the roles they play or valued for the position and acclamation they are gaining in an industry.
Samrat Prithviraj was one of the flops of 2022, and it was attributed to Akshay Kumar’s casting as a titular character.
The newly released movie could have done well if there were any other actors opposite Vijay Devarokonda in place of Ananya Pandey. Bollywood is always under fire for casting actors for the movies.
During the covid-19 times, OTT has surged significantly. The latter has offered people a cheaper and a comfortable way of watching movies. Most people prefer to watch movies in the comfort of their homes. This had diminished the grandeur of Bollywood movies as they do not get the same viewership compared to the times before the pandemic was introduced in India.
People have started to stand true to their political affiliations. They look up to the stars for inspiration, ad when the latter express their opinion, which seems to be conflicting, people give up on the actor and his movies.
This is evident in how Laal Singh Chaddha performed in India. It was Aamir Khan’s first movie after he made a return to the silver screen. But the movie did not do well. The film’s failure has largely been attributed to the content that the audience did not like or the boycott trend.
There is a collision of opinions stating that the content of the movie was undoing and it has nothing to do with the boycott trend. Laal Singh Chaddha acquired a sum of 10 to 11 crore INR business on the first day of opening shows that the movie was not well received by the critics.
How has Bollywood changed over time?
A comparison of Bollywood movies that were released in 2019 and 2022 shows that all the top grosser in 2019 was produced by Hindi Industry. But, the trend significantly declined in 2022. KGF Chapter 2- which was shot by the Kannada Industry, RRR, which was released in the Telugu industry, and the Hollywood movies made it to the list of top 10 top grosser movies reducing the list of the Hindi cinemas share to 50%. The stars have also lost their shine. After the flop of Akshay Kumar and Kangana Ranaut, it was believed that Laal Singh Chaddha would be able to revive the fortune of the Bollywood industry.
Despite having one of the kings of Bollywood, the movie did not do well.
On the other hand, movies like Bhool Bhulaiyya and Kashmir files have made records at the box office despite not having any A-List stars.
Among the list of high-grosser movies of 2022, only six films have crossed the 100 crore INR mark. However, all the top grosser movies produced in 2019 earned more than 150 crore INR.
The Box office collections of Bollywood movies are declining rapidly. Many actors have opened up about the issue. Pankaj Tripathi has claimed that Bollywood needs to assess the situation carefully to identify and rectify the problem.
The changing fortune in the Bollywood industry reveals that the industry has a lot to work on to bring back the people to watch their movies. Otherwise, the industry would only experience a shortfall that is difficult to recover from.
Edited by Prakriti Arora
