While in conversation with a leading news channel a few weeks ago, I recalled missing the golden era of 1970s and 1980s. Besides interacting with the doyens of the film fraternity - right from the movie moguls to the distributors and exhibitors at Naaz Building - I reminisced about the glorious run of films, week after week, at the Boxoffice.
The ratio of successful films, the silver and golden jubilee functions, the trophies that adorned the shelves, it was like living a dream. I often wondered, will I witness achche din again?
Cut to the present…
THE KERALA STORY. ZARA HATKE ZARA HATKE. SATYAPREM KI KATHA. ROCKY AUR RANI KI PREM KAHAANI. GADAR 2. OMG 2. DREAM GIRL 2… The Hindi film industry is going through a fantastic phase currently. Wait, picture abhi baaki hain. There’s JAWAN arriving on Thursday, which is all set to embark on a historic start at the ticket windows. The moviegoers are back. Bollywood is back. Achche din are back!
After the below-the-mark BO performance of several biggies - SELFIEE, SHEHZADA, BHOLAA, KISI KA BHAI KISI KI JAAN and ADIPURUSH - the industry was feeling low. Very low. A section of the media was quick to write off Bollywood. The movie-going audience is no longer interested in watching Hindi movies, one discourse I kept hearing repeatedly. The South industry has taken over, the media wrote relentlessly. OTT is the future, so on and so forth.
And then August happened.
The month of August has brought abundant joy, cheer and positivity within the industry. In fact, no one anticipated this revival. The best part is, the business at non-national chains and single screens has silenced a section of the industry that was of the opinion that metros / major multiplexes contribute big bucks, while the returns from single screens are negligible / zilch. Am sure, the phenomenal run of GADAR 2 and the historic start of JAWAN in mass pockets / single screens will put an end to this fallacy.
Going forward, the Hindi film fraternity needs to keep the audience interest alive. It has been proven, time and again, that quality content is what the audience seeks in a movie. We cannot cheat them with substandard content anymore. Let’s not forget, content is King and audiences are King makers.
