Hindi cinema is giving flops after flops. But why an industry, known for its path-breaking content, is struggling to captivate the audience? Karan Johar has the perfect confession to make about Bollywood’s struggle.
Bollywood’s struggle
This year the box office saw three high-budget and much-awaited movies struggle at the ticket window. Be it Aamir Khan’s Lal Singh Chadha, Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan, and Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera, every film failed to draw the crowds to the theatre.
Only two films — The Kashmir Files and Bhool Bhulaiya 2 — have received positive reviews this year. Drishyam 2 may not be considered as of course it’s a South remake. Speaking about Bollywood’s lack of interest in originality, filmmaker Karan Johar admits that Hindi Cinema needs to find its track before it is too late.
Speaking at the Galatta Plus Mega Round Table, Brahmastra film producer said, “The core issue about Bollywood is that we come from the mainstream industry in Hindi Cinema which doesn’t have any strong quality which everyone in the South industry has. And that is conviction.
Hindi cinema’s biggest problem
“We (the Hindi Cinema) were so original with Salim-Javed in the 70s. We created certain characters then and in fact, it was derived in other cinemas. The concept of the ‘HERO’ which was angsty and angry in the films, originated in Hindi cinemas. And then in the 80s, suddenly we became a host of ‘remakes’. And that’s where the conviction law started. We started remaking every film that was popular in Tamil and Telugu. And surprisingly many stars were born in that era too.”
“Then in the ’90s, there was this one love story that stormed the nation called ‘Hum Apke Hai Kaun’. Everyone including myself decided to jump on that bandwagon called ‘Love’ and in this Shah Rukh Khan was also created. After this, we let go of our roots of the 70s and went ahead with the 90s’ idea.”
“Surprisingly, after the 90s, Lagaan of 2001 became a new subject for us in Hindi Cinema. It’s like ‘Oh! Now we must all do these kinds of movies.’ And then Dabbang came and filmmakers tried to copy the same style in every movie. That’s the problem. We actually lack the spine we lack the conviction. And that’s what we need to get and learn from other cinemas (South films),” Karan concludes.
Here’s the video:
Meanwhile, Karan Johar is gearing up for his film Govinda Naam Mera, starring Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani, and Bhumi Pednekar. Helmed by Shashank Khaitan and produced by KJo’s Dharma Productions, the film is slated to stream on Disney Plus Hotstar on December 16, 2022.
The Dharma Productions also has Yodha, starring Sidharth Malhotra, Dostana 2, starring Janhvi Kapoor and Bedhadak, starring Shanaya Kapoor and Gurfateh Pirzada, all to release in 2023.
