Why is Bollywood failing? Why does Bollywood films are resulting in a flop nowadays?
It’s a fascinating subject to debate. I grew up watching films in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, and English.
From the beginning of this year, 2022, Bollywood films began to flop one after the other after people became aware of quality content. Now, the audience knows which content to watch and which content to avoid.
To understand the gradual failure of Bollywood films, we must first understand the evolution of our country’s entertainment platforms.
Evolution of Entertainment Platforms: 90s to 2020s
Our access to films during our school years was limited to local theaters and TV channels, imported cassettes, and Doordarshan. I had no idea about other film industries or language films. Doordarshan frequently aired Hindi films alongside our favorite childhood shows such as Shaktimaan, Om Namah Shivay, Tele Tubbies, Duck Tales, He-Man, and Jungle Book.
Obviously, I knew Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Hrithik Roshan, Sharukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Govinda from the Mumbai film industry. I wasn’t ignoring regional films; I enjoyed Mohanlal, Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Prithviraj, Vijay, Ajith, Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Vikram, Suriya, and others.
Later, as the television revolution occurred in India, with the establishment of private channels, the entertainment industry became more accessible to the population. There was still a language barrier because it was not feasible to produce pan-Indian films at the time. Some directors, such as Mani Ratnam, made multi-lingual films, which were, of course, a pioneering effort in pan-Indian film production.
We obviously began watching international content as well, such as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the Football World Cup, James Bond films, international travelogues, F1 car racing, Japanese serials, and so on.
YouTube Era:-
The real revolution occurred with the rise of YouTube and Dailymotion. It placed content at our fingertips. Consider the transition from old Nokia phones to Apple iPhones today, or from 2G to 4G technology.
I recall riding the Delhi metro while listening to Yo Yo Honey Singh on my Blackberry smartphone and dancing in Connaught Place during my college days. DJ clubs and pubs in Delhi and Gurgaon played Honey Singh, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Javed Ali, and other artists.
I first became aware of Kannada films when I began working as an IT Engineer in Bengaluru; I recall seeing Gaja Kesari, starring Yash, at the theater. Although I didn’t understand much of the language, I was able to connect the movie story to the actors’ body language and world. Masala experiments were also taking place in Telugu cinema at the time. Srimanthudu, starring Mahesh Babu, was my first Telugu movie that I saw in a theater. Again, the main issue was a language barrier. Even though I am from India’s southernmost state, I was unable to understand the Telugu language and dialogues. Later on, I watched the movie with subtitles on YouTube to better understand the plot.
Major film production industries in India are listed Below:
Bollywood: We’ve grown up watching movies, most of which are in Hindi, and Bollywood is the popular name for the Hindi film Industry. Mayanagari Mumbai is the center of Bollywood and is a mashup of Bombay (the last name of Mumbai) and Hollywood.
Tollywood: Tollywood known as Telugu Cinema produces films in the Telugu language. It is based in Film Nagar, a neighborhood of Hyderabad, India. Recently Tollywood got international acclaim, because of the popularity of the Baahubali franchise.
Kollywood: Tamil Film Industry is known as Kollywood. It is based in the Kodambakkam neighborhood in Central Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Popular actors like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hasan are from Kollywood.
Sandalwood: Sandalwood or Chandanavana is known as the Kannada film industry. It is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It produces around 200 films each year. It is the fifth-largest film industry in India after Bollywood. Kannada films are released in 1000 single-screen cinema theatres in Karnataka.
Mollywood: Mollywood is known as the Malayalam film industry. It is based in Kerala and produces films in the Malayalam language. It is also the fourth biggest film industry in India.
Marathi Film Industry: Indian movies produced in the Marathi language are known as Marathi Cinema. It is based in old Mumbai, Maharastra. It is the oldest film industry in India. Shree Pundalik is the first Marathi film produced by Dadasaheb Torne on 18 May 1912.
Bengali Film Industry: Bengali cinema AKA Tollywood refers to the Indian Bengali film industry. It is based in Tollygunge a locality of South Kolkata, West Bengal. The nickname Tollywood is derived from the words Tollygunge and Hollywood. Tollywood is famous for producing the most critically acclaimed global and art films and winning several Indian National Film Awards.
Bhojiwood — Bhojpuri Film Industry: Bhojpuri cinema AKA Bhojiwood is the Indian film industry based on the Bhojpuri language. It is based in Bihar, India. It is known as one of the fastest-growing movie industries with a Rs 2000 crore (and growing) industry. The First Bhojpuri film, Ganga Maiyya Tohe Piyari Chadhaibo, was released in 1963 by Vishwanath Shahabadi.
Pollywood — Punjabi Film Industry : Punjabi cinema is also known as Pollywood refers to the Punjabi language film industry. It is based in Amritsar and Mohali in the Indian state of Punjab. The first silent Punjabi movie Daughters of Today released in 1928. The first sound film, Heer Ranjha was released in 1932. Many actors and filmmakers started their careers in Punjabi films, and build their careers in big film industries.
Evolution of OTT Platforms in India
With the widespread acceptance and availability of 4G and high-quality smartphones, OTT platforms emerged, resulting in significant disruption.
The most noticeable behavioral change we have observed is viewers accepting and enjoying content in all languages. The success of shows like Squid Game (Korean) and Money Heist (Spanish), as well as films like Pushpa: The Rise (Telugu) and Kantara (Kannada), attest to this.
With international players like Netflix and Prime Video driving churn, we’ve also seen a rapid increase in the number of homegrown OTT players popping up across the country.
The four major drivers of this streaming revolution are self-evident: smartphones have become ubiquitous, data plans are affordable and accessible to all, a largely young population is eager to experiment with new formats, and a robust multi-lingual film and television industry is constantly producing new content.
The evolution of Dubbing Industry
As I mentioned earlier, language and cultural reasons were the primary reasons why people restricted themselves to region cinemas. That issue has now been resolved.
Once the films became popular on OTT platforms, the transition from regional films to web series began. The demand for dubbed content grew dramatically. The audience became more aware, serious, and content reigned supreme. Filmmakers discovered a novel business model in which they create high-quality content, dub it into major languages, and profit and gain fame.
I’m sure you remember the poorly dubbed Hollywood films from 2005 to 2015 that killed the original content and story — think Spiderman, Batman, Rambo, and Tom Cruise. At the time, the quality of regional dubbing was subpar. The game has changed. Dubbing itself becomes a profitable and serious business, spawning a parallel industry.
If we look at recent South films that have gone pan-Indian, we can see that they all had very high-quality dubbing work, whether it was Bahubali 1 & 2, KGF 1 & 2, Saaho, Pushpa Part 1, RRR, Radhe Shyam, or Brahmastra.
Now that quality dubbing of songs is available, the game will become more challenging — create one piece of music, dub it into multiple languages, sell it to distribution companies, and profit more. With dubbed songs, Bollywood’s monopoly will eventually be broken. This will occur five years from now.
The rise of Pan Indian Stars
Rajnikanth is the first pan-Indian star that comes to mind. His films were well known in Mumbai, South India, Malaysia, Japan, and Singapore. Amitabh Bachhan and the Khans had charisma, but Bollywood movie content that was Westernized disconnected them from Indian audiences.
An average Indian wants films that are relevant to their lives, address social issues, are culturally relevant, and are entertaining. In the 2000s, Bollywood found a profitable format in making fantasy romantic NRI films.
Pan-Indian stars from regional industries have emerged in recent years, and in 2023, they are all set to broaden their reach with eagerly anticipated releases. The definition of regional cinema has become increasingly ambiguous, with every cinema star now working in all film industries across India. This has given rise to pan-India stars who are adored across the country.
I recall the Rajasthani rural population watching Vijay’s dubbed films in 2012. Traveling to small towns in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, and other states made me aware of this trend. I was surprised to learn that these people are already familiar with the main Telegu, Malayalam, and Tamil actors. Also, keep in mind Dhanush’s song Why This Kolavery Di, which went viral in India. People were familiar with the actors, but the films were not well received due to poor dubbing quality.
With the huge success of Baahubali, the disruption began with people talking about Bollywood losing ground to other film industries. SS Rajamouli rose to prominence as the most popular director, and Prabhas was the first New Age pan-Indian superstar. The trend then reversed as North Indian audiences became interested in KGF, Saaho, RRR, Pushpa, and other films.
The competition for Bollywood actors has heated up. People began to compare All Khan’s acting and performance to that of South Stars. Obviously, the greatest victim was Salman Khan, who lost his monopoly — the great Salman Khan to Sallu Uncle, the meme star.
The current top Pan Indian Stars are –
1. Prabhas
2. Allu Arjun
3. Vijay
4. Yash
5. Ram Charan
6. Jr NTR
7. Akshay Kumar
8. Ajith Kumar
9. Mahesh Babu
10. Vijay Devarakondai
11. Kamal Hassan
12. Dhanush
13. Suriya
The top contenders for pan-India blockbusters in 2023 are Prithviraj Sukumaran, Asif Ali, Allu Arjun, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, and Tamannaah Bhatia. They are all set to broaden their fan bases this year with rollicking hits that, while regional in nature, will undoubtedly have an impact across the country.
Nepotism in Bollywood Industry
The Bollywood industry has been severely harmed by the most important NEPOTISM in everything, from choosing a writer to an actor or actress, and web series are a boon. People are drawn to artists who have joined the web series community and are showcasing their talents like no one else because they were previously ignored in Bollywood despite their talent.
I observe that there was no nepotism in Bollywood before 2000. Pre-2000, the film industry was a different place as most of the celebs, like Sridevi, Amitabh Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit, were outsiders. However, when their children came into films, Bollywood became ‘a very close-knit kind of a mafia’.
Post-2000, celebs from Bollywood families ‘closed the doors for everybody else’. These celebs then started ‘destroying careers of talented outsiders. A doctor’s son becoming a doctor is natural. There is nothing wrong in a carpenter’s son or daughter becoming a carpenter or a priest’s son becoming a priest. However, in Bollywood, stars were pushing incompetence due to the nepotistic nature of the industry.
Change in Generations’ Choices:
As millennials enter their 30s and 40s, Gen Z is the current younger generation. Because I was born as a younger millennial, I am more familiar to Gen Z entertainment preferences.
I’ve noticed that the younger generation prefers serious content or performances to masala films. They also prefer to watch younger actors and actors of high caliber. This is also one of the primary reasons why Bollywood is falling behind other film industries. New age Bollywood actors are unable to compete with rising pan-Indian stars and actors.
Gen Z in India prefers binge watching and multilingual content. A curious new audience means new opportunities for growth. OTT platforms are seeing a surge in localization and expansion in both rural and urban India. Around 65% of video consumption occurs in rural India, where only 40% of people have access to the internet.
Apart from all of this, a nationalism fuelled by Hindutva ideology has captured the country’s institutions as well as the psychological minds of the youth. The rural Gen Z population, which is by far the majority, leans towards conservatism and collectivist culturalism. It’s a genuine trend and a generational preference. As the right ecosystem develops, its cultural collective sense opposes Bollywood’s westernization of film plots. Masala actors such as Balayya, Salman Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sharukh Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Salman Khan, Chiranjeevi, Brahmanandam and others will be their meme stars.
My Conclusion:
As the world begins to recover from the Covid pandemic, many Bollywood films have returned to theatres. However, with each new film release, the hope of more people watching films fades, especially after the halt experienced during the pandemic.
From an economic standpoint, it is a demand and supply game. The audience has changed, as have their preferences and demand, as have emerging entertainment platforms and generational differences. People now have more options than ever before.
If Bollywood can recognise its flaws and begin producing valuable, culturally relevant, high-quality content, it will rise to the top. As far as I can tell, Bollywood will continue to lose business as competition grows and shifts its focus to web series.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I’ll leave it up to you to provide your valuable subjective opinions and arguments.
