Aamir Khan suffered a "Waterloo", and Bollywood, which is no longer in glory, is facing major changes
[Global Times Special Correspondent Dong Ming] Once upon a time, Bollywood has always been the representative of Indian movies and even the entire South Asian movies. However, in recent years, under the joint impact of competitors such as Tollywood in the South, multinational streaming media and the new crown epidemic, Bollywood movies have disappeared. The box office of new films is in trouble, and even superstars like Amir Khan and Akshay Kumar are unable to recover. This Hindi film base rooted in Mumbai is facing the biggest changes in decades.
Aamir Khan encountered "Waterloo"
As one of India's most famous and internationally influential filmmakers, Aamir Khan has always been the "box office" of Bollywood. However, after Amir Khan's new film "The Legend of Ahsin", which has been filmed for many years, was released on August 11 this year, it unexpectedly suffered a "Waterloo", with a box office revenue of only 560 million rupees (about 7 million US dollars), less than 1/4 of the cost. "Ashin" is remake from the Hollywood classic "Forrest Gump", with excellent scripts and character settings. However, for various reasons, Indian audiences no longer pursue his works and other Bollywood Hindi movies.
Stills from the movie "The Legend of Ashin"
When "The Legend of Ahsin" was released, right-wing Indian critics called on audiences to boycott the work because some public remarks by Aamir Khan since 2015 were considered "unpatriotic", which was indeed unfavorable to the film in terms of publicity and also caused controversy on Indian social media. However, some industry insiders believe that the "boycott of Aamir Khan" storm is not the real reason for the failure of "Asin's True Story". Sannaya Zorabi, producer of RSVP Film Company in India, said: "The key is the content level of the movie itself, but the Bollywood style is no longer popular."
The latest Indian box office statistics show that after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Bollywood's attractiveness has deteriorated, and most Bollywood movies released this year are not as good as the box office. Of the more than 50 Bollywood movies released in the past year, only 1/5 of them have reached the box office target, far lower than the pre-epidemic level.
It's not just Amir Khan, but other Bollywood superstars' works also lost their box office appeal: Akshay Kumar's new film "Marrying a Girl" and Ranville Singh's "The Pearl of the Palm" were not ideal at the box office. Critics believe that today's Bollywood movies "are too focused on international narratives". The filmmakers in Mumbai have funds, technology and stars, but are getting further and further away from the tastes of ordinary Indian audiences. Kumar also humbly accepted criticism in an interview with the Indian Express: "If my movie fails, it is my fault, and I must truly understand the needs of the audience."
"Tollywood" is in a strong limelight
Bollywood, which is mainly composed of Hindi movies, is synonymous with Indian movies all year round, and the annual production of movies can be as high as possible.It has 1,600 movies and many movie superstars. However, after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the once largest film base in South Asia has lost its glory. Somya Gosh, chief economic adviser of the State Bank of India, said: "Bollywood has told a story for decades and is currently at a turning point."
In contrast, "Tollywood", located in southern India and mainly in Telugu, has been in a strong limelight in recent years, snatching a lot of markets. The most successful movie in India this year, "RRR", came from Tollywood. The film broke multiple box office records as soon as it was released. Its current global box office is US$160 million, ranking among the top three Indian film history. "RRR" is a typical "South Indian blockbuster": magnificent scenes and exaggerated special effects, full of male heroism.
"Smooth movies" like "RRR" are now popular in India, helping the Tollywood market to rise all the way, accounting for 50% of India's box office profit in the first half of this year. Film production bases such as "Tollywood" that speaks Telugu and "Kollywood" that speaks Tamil have joined forces. In contrast, Bollywood's Hindi film system seems to be a bit unfollowing the trend.
Streaming brings new crisis
In addition to the impact of many competitors, streaming has also brought new crises to Bollywood. Multinational streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ have been launched in India. In addition to local streaming media companies in India, about one-quarter of the Indian population chooses to watch movies and TV shows online. In addition, multinational streaming platforms can also bring richer and more diverse programs, allowing more Indian audiences to discover that "you don't have to choose Bollywood when watching movies." As Indian film trade analyst Sumit Kardel said, "Bollywood is experiencing the worst situation in 30 years." If you want to get out of the predicament, you must seek breakthroughs in content and form. You can consider giving up the past internationalization model, imitating "Tollywood", and producing more localized and nationalized works, and perhaps bringing back the audience from the past.
