Hindi films don’t live up to expectations, dropping Bollywood’s box office by approximately 40%.
Bollywood continues to languish despite cinemas operating at full capacity for more than a year now after the lifting of pandemic-induced curbs with film business in the Hindi-speaking market nearly 40% less than the pre-covid levels.
The first half of 2023, which clocked in about ₹1,900 crore in the Hindi belt, according to three trade experts, has seen only one notable Bollywood hit in Pathaan besides occasional hits like The Kerala Story, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and dubbed versions of regional hits like Ponniyin Selvan-II. Moreover, Hindi film releases have remained mostly inconsistent during the period with several weeks seeing no new movies.
Further, trade experts say the big miss stems from the underperformance of mid-budget titles since the genre has completely moved to OTT. However, there is more hope from the second half where Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan will compete with Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal, Prabhas’ Salaar and Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, among others. The second half of the year is usually more lucrative with several festivals and holiday weekends scheduled. “The first half of the year began on a positive note for the multiplex business, as it witnessed record-breaking revenues with the release of Pathaan in January. However, following this initial success, box office collections faced a slowdown. This dip in revenue was expected to some extent, as the market often experiences fluctuations in audience turnout and box office numbers after a highly anticipated release. This volatility is a common phenomenon in the cinema industry,” said Devang Sampat, chief executive officer, Cinepolis India. He said the multiplex business managed to partly revive its fortunes with the recent release of Fast X and The Kerala Story.
The two films, which earned ₹108.83 crore and ₹242.20 crore respectively across India at last count, along with comedy drama Zara Hatke Zara Bach Ke that managed ₹84.66 crore, have made for occasional cheer in the Hindi belt.
The misses, however, have been far more and what is truly worrying, said trade experts, is that Hindi films continue with erratic and inconsistent release schedules, having lost most of May, a month which usually provides an opportunity to cash in on school and college holidays. Even going forward, there are no major releases in July except Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani that will arrive only towards the month-end.
Film producer, trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar pointed out that while there have been a fair number of films crossing the ₹100 crore mark (Adipurush, Fast X, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Pathaan) in the first half of the year, it is the mid-budget film category that has taken a hit. It is crucial that the lower-scale, content-driven movie genre begins to bring people back to cinemas because big-ticket, tentpole titles only fill theatres a few weeks per year and large gaps are left in between, Johar pointed out. “Factors such as the evolution of OTT and changing content consumption patterns play an integral role (in the performance of films when compared to pre-covid years). The performance of Hollywood, Bollywood and regional films have been decently good but if we compare to pre-covid levels, there is a decline as consumption pattern and content preferences were different during that period,” said Rahul Puri, managing director, Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas.
To be sure, cinemas are now placing bets on festive weekends scheduled for the second half of the year. While Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2 and Zee Studios’ Gadar 2 will arrive for the Independence Day week, Tiger Shroff’s Ganapath- Part 1 and Salman Khan’s Tiger 3 are slated for Dussehra and Diwali respectively. Jawan, Animal and Ayushmann Khuarrana’s Dream Girl 2, are also expected to generate buzz.
“With a strong line-up of upcoming releases, there is an opportunity for the box office to continue its revival. We are anticipating trends similar to 19 other countries (where the company operates) where footfall has almost reached pre-pandemic levels and we expect the same in the second half of the year,” Sampat said.
