While 2023 saw the biggest year wrt India’s box office collections (over Rs. 12,000 Cr), the first 11&1/2 months of 2024 have been quite to the contrary.
Usually what happens in a good year is that there are approx 6-12 films which are super duper hits and then another 20-30 films which break even or make small gains. These 25-40 films end up offsetting the other films that make sizeable losses / the ones which are total disasters.
In 2024 however, apart from Stree2, Article 370, Lapata Ladies, Munjya, Singham Again & Bhool Bhulaiya 2 to a small extent, the really big hits are missing. There were a few small-profit / break-even films like Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, Shaitaan, Madgaon Express, Crew, Maidaan, Srikanth, Bad Newz & Kill but nothing that’s spectacular. And meanwhile, there have been some big misses like Fighter & Bade Miyan – both of which were eagerly awaited.
Looking at all this, I see a little bit of a redux of the year 2022 happening in 2024.
So here is what I think the Hindi Film industry needs to do, going forward to fix some of the bigger issues it has:
1. Know your country, its culture & the history of its people. Deracination is guaranteed disaster. Know & speak the language that you’re making the content in.
2. Producers – spend more money on writing. Writers – make sure you deserve what you are asking to get paid. Producers – not all writers are out to con you into a writing contract while they are incompetent. Writers – please don’t assume that everything you write is always of great quality and if a producers don’t ‘get it’, they are incompetent.
3. The fixed costs of talent (especially of directing / acting talent aka ‘star actors’ or ‘star directors’) need to be capped. Give them a much higher share of profits if needed but balancing of the risk:reward ratio is needed.
4. ‘Star actors’ really should limit their social media presence. The more they put their regular lives out there, the more the allure is lost. Arranging for your photos/video taken when going to/from your gym or when getting in/out of the airport adds no value to your brand but only dilutes it.
5. Producers – please don’t cut corners on pre-production or post production. Please pay post-production people / post-production houses properly, and on time, so that they don’t then need to cut corners. Remember, if you have underpaid / not paid a post-house / post-team for a film, they are definitely bound to either overcharge you for your next project or they will put their less qualified and less expensive people on your next project, which will entail a delay (trust me on this, I know).
6. Good films don’t flop or bad films don’t succeed because of social media campaigns. And definitely not because of twitter. Just about 1% of India is on twitter. Stop blaming twitter trends for your losses. Look within.
7. Multiplex ticket rates & especially F&B prices, like 200Rs for 2 samosas / 500Rs for popcorn, are insane rates and need to come down drastically.
8. Producers / Studios – please stop paying for reviews and buying awards with money / your time. The reality of the reviews / awards is out there for people now, so it is a complete waste of time/money.
9. Dear writers, directors & producers – please remember that your first job is to entertain / engage the audience for as long as you have asked for their time and as much as the money you have asked from them. If during engaging / entertaining them, you end up giving them a message, that’s a bonus. Please don’t make preachy, ‘message-based’ films just for the heck of it. You do not need to take on the burden of societal change on your head. It’s not the content creator’s job to solve society’s ills, so please cut out the megalomania and take a load off.
10. Don’t expect your politics to save your film. We have seen films on both sides of the political spectrum bomb, if they were badly made pieces of hackery. Your ‘allies’ are not going to ‘save you’ and watch your nonsense film just because of political ideology. Make a good film and people will see it no matter what their ideology is.
And lastly, please remember that things are never as bad as they seem. The industry has been declared dead multiple times in the past. It will never die. It will only go through ups and downs. Remember that 2019 was the first year when the Indian domestic box office crossed 10000Cr with 15+ Hindi films crossing the 100Cr mark, and 2023 saw over 12000Cr made by the Box office. We know how to make good content. We can and will bounce back from the setbacks of the recent past…
May The Force be with us!!! 😊