The year 2022 has not been a good one for the Hindi film industry. The year saw many big-budget releases disappoint at the box office. The likes of Bachchan Pandey, Prithviraj, Jersey, Heropanti 2, Shamshera, Laal Singh Chaddha, Vikram Vedha etc were all rejected by the audience. Even the top-grosser of the year, Brahmastra did underwhelming business looking at its massive production budget.
In this series of big-budget flops, another name has been added as we approach the end of the year as Ranveer Singh starrer Cirkus tanks at the box office. The latest adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘A Comedy of Errors’, directed by Rohit Shetty, ended up being a total failure with both, the critics and the masses.
Rohit Shetty has established a reputation for delivering commercial success with a string of successful films, especially comedy films, however, even he couldn’t work his magic this time. While Cirkus bombed, Drishyam 2 continues to draw the audience as its box office collections reach 225 crores, becoming the 3rd highest grosser of the year after Brahmastra and The Kashmir Files.
#Drishyam2 remains steady, despite #Avatar invading the marketplace… Will breach ₹ 225 cr mark today [sixth Fri]… [Week 5] Fri 1.07 cr, Sat 2.02 cr, Sun 2.56 cr, Mon 88 lacs, Tue 84 lacs, Wed 82 lacs, Thu 79 lacs. Total: ₹ 224.68 cr. #India biz. pic.twitter.com/Ql8Aox0qvT
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) December 23, 2022
2022 also saw many “Boycott” campaigns as people launched campaigns against Bollywood films and actors, asking others not to see their films. Some have attributed even the failure of films like Laal Singh Chaddha to such boycott campaigns. However, in a nation of 140 crore people, even if the majority boycott your film, there are enough people living in the country to make your film a success, if you make a good film.
“A good film”, is what the audience has started to demand these days, and that is where Bollywood is struggling. Lazy filmmaking of signing a ‘big name’ as the lead actor for an obscene amount, shooting in foreign locations, and adding a couple of item songs has worked well for the Hindi film industry for years, however, the audience wants something more now.
The success of Kashmir Files, a runaway hit, in the first half of the year showed that people will watch a film that they can connect to. The film, depicting the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus in the early 90s, had no big stars, no songs, and no love angle, it simply told a story that people liked.
Drishyam 2 has shown that people will watch a well-made film even when they already know the suspense in the film. Remakes such as Laal Singh Chaddha, Vikram Vedha, and Cirkus failed to attract the audience, but Drishyam 2 has shown that people still appreciate remakes, as long as they are well made, and the film doesn’t take the audience for granted. The thought that since you are remaking a successful film so the audience will come by default has to be discarded.
People thronged the cinema halls in 2022 to watch the dubbed versions of films from the south of India. KGF, RRR, Pushpa, Kantara etc have all done phenomenal business in the Hindi belt. These films have shown that people are still looking forward to going to the cinemas as long as the experience for them is worth spending the money.
2022 has taught many lessons to the big names of Bollywood. Even bankable names like Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh delivered multiple flops this year. Maybe instead of spending the entire budget on signing the lead actors, they have to start paying some attention to the script as well. Maybe they need to spend a little time researching the subject, maybe they need to try and relate to the audience.
The ‘formula films’ are not working, and are unlikely to work so instead of repeating their formula, Bollywood’s filmmakers need to put in some actual work. However, I am not too hopeful that the big names from the industry will try and think of any course correction.
