‘Paisa Bolta Hai’: 5 Takeaways For Bollywood From First Half Of 2022

1) The invasion of South: When the Hindi film industry was reeling under the third wave in December-January and there were restrictions on cinema halls in many states, the Hindi dubbed version of a Telugu movie ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ shocked the trade by collecting over Rs 100 crore net. In March, SS Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’ opened to full houses and its dubbed version did roaring business in traditional Hindi belts and netted approximately Rs 250 crore.

However, the film which knocked the wind out of everyone was the Hindi dubbed version of a Kannada film ‘KGF – Chapter 2’. The extravagant action drama set the box-office ablaze and raked in more than Rs 400 crore net. No original Bollywood movie has ever clocked up more than this film. In fact, the highest grossing Bollywood film till now in 2022 is ‘The Kashmir Files’ which earned in the tune of Rs 250 crore.

This is not to say every South movie is wreaking havoc in Hindi circuits. Films such as ‘Radhe Shyam’, ‘Valimai’ and many others unceremoniously bit the dust. But there’s no denying the fact that Hindi audiences are increasingly getting enamoured by opulent, larger-than-life movies from the South largely because Bollywood is no longer serving up such content.

2) OTT has changed people’s cinematic taste and habits: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of people took to OTT platforms and got exposed to a variety of content from different languages and industries. Hence, there is a marked change in their preferences. The people are sauntering into the cinema halls only to watch big-ticket extravaganzas or those films which are carrying extraordinary reports.

They are giving a wide berth to most of the content-driven or slice-of-life films and prefer to watch them on OTT platforms. Since most of the Bollywood films start streaming on OTT platforms after only four weeks of their release is another reason why the viewers have been discreet about forking out their hard-earned money for cinema experience. The exorbitant ticket prices is another factor why people feel only lavishly-mounted films with terrific reports are worth their moolah.

3) Box-office is swinging between extremes: With an exception of ‘Jug Jugg Jeeyo’, most of the Bollywood films have either been colossal hits or gigantic turkeys at the turnstiles. While ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ have been monumental blockbusters, films featuring A-list stars such as ‘Jersey’, ‘Heropanti 2’, ‘Runway 34’, ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’ ‘Attack’, ‘Anek’ etc. torpedoed without a whimper. These films didn’t even take half-decent initials and were unmitigated non-starters.

The current trend evinces that when a film is accepted, it does rumbustious business for many weeks but when a film isn’t accepted, it becomes a dud from the word go. ‘Jug Jugg Jeeyo’ is an exception as it is neither a disaster nor a hit. A rare average grosser of the year so far.

4) Standing of all A-list stars have taken a beating: The box-office standing almost all the A-list stars – Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff – have taken a huge beating. While a couple of flops don’t determine a star’s stature, the fact that their films fetched shockingly dismal openings has certainly affected their standing.

This is not to say they are no longer big stars, but there is a vast chasm between their pre-pandemic and post-pandemic status at least in their pulling power. Other A-list stars such Salman, Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan didn’t have a release during this period but looking at the trend, even they wouldn’t have been left completely unscathed.

5) Kartik Aaryan becomes a A-list star: While Kartik had given a few moderate successes in the past such as ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’, ‘Luka Chuppi’ and ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2’, he was not in the league of A-list stars. The credit either went entirely to the director or it was too moderate a success. ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ is his first massive grosser and has catapulted him to the top bracket. Yes, the director Anees Bazmee is a big name and it was the sequel of a popular movie but it has done a world of good for Kartik’s popularity especially in mass circuits.

The stupendous success of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ – it has hoovered up Rs 185 crore nett in India – is also significant because the movies of almost all other A-list stars were falling like ninepins and the Bollywood was hemmed in by a sense of despondency. Till a few months ago, he was being lambasted as ‘unprofessional’ – he was expelled by Karan Johar and SRK from movies produced by them – but is now being feted as ‘Shehzada’.

CLASSIFICATIONS:

Blockbuster – ‘KGF Chapter 2’, ‘The Kashmnir Files’

Superhit – ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, ‘RRR’

Hit – ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’

Average – ‘Jug Jugg Jeeyo’

Major duds – ‘Samrat Prithviraj’, ‘Bachchhan Paandey’, ‘Heropanti 2’, ‘Jayeshbhai Jordaar’, ‘Dhaakad’, ‘Jersey’