Bollywood worry: No big star releases this year

Rajiv Vijayakar looks at what lies ahead in an unusually quiet year

Rajiv Vijayakar

Bollywood worry: no big star releases this year

Will Hindi cinema’s celebration of 2023 as their ‘best-ever year’ be short-lived?

That is the mega-crore question permeating the minds of filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors. As we enter 2024 with three major disappointments at the box office: ‘Merry Christmas’, ‘Fighter’ and ‘Teri Baaton Mein Mera Uljha Jiya’. The failures are not the issue, but what is really alarming is that the rest of the year will not see a single Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor or Hrithik Roshan film releasing. 

“These are the most important stars today along with Aamir Khan and also Ajay Devgn to an extent,” says veteran distributor and exhibitor Raj Bansal from Rajasthan. What he means is that these stars are proven crowd-pullers into the theatres (even in the age of spiralling ticket-prices and OTT platforms) for the vital initial openings and also sustained theatrical incomes unless the product fails to satisfy the audience.

Trade analyst Komal Nahata said, “Aamir will have a release in ‘Sitaren Zameen Par’, but it is a small, realistic film.” Bansal is of the opinion that 2024 does not seem bright unless there are great surprises. “I see cinemas bleeding!” he concludes adding, “we all were banking heavily on ‘Fighter’.”

Nahata ruefully agrees, “It’s alarming and sad and the industry, especially the exhibitors, are tense. Of course, miracles never cease and you never know which film hits the jackpot — ‘The Kashmir Files’ is a case in point. But it’s a fact that no Khan and Ranbir have any release. Yes, Ajay has ‘Singham Again’, ‘Shaitan’ and ‘Maidaan’, while Akshay Kumar has ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’, but overall the scenario looks dull.”

While Emraan Hashmi says that filmmakers play too safe and should experiment more, he is right only to an extent. Proof lies in the fact that what brings in huge profits still are larger-than-life movies like ‘Pathaan’, ‘Gadar 2’, ‘Jawan’ and ‘Animal’, while small-budget films only connect for ‘obvious reasons’ now like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’. Nahata states that one can never say which small film does big business. But again, theatres need much more than such small wonders to sustain and that happens only rarely. 

“There is one more factor that is making the scene much worse!” opines Bansal. “In a gloomy year, producers are ill-advisedly having a clash: on April 10, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ and ‘Maidaan’ are clashing! And on August 15, ‘Singham Again’ comes along with ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’. Where was the need for this? At best, there will still be an avoidable reduction of 15 to 20 percent in business!”

Bansal pertinently points out that the two biggest and most prolific names in production — T-Series Films and Jio Studios — are now going slow on big movies. The two entities have to carry on bankrolling films to run the show, but with an exception or two, they are steering clear of big-budget ventures. Jio Studios, for example, may back out of the Akshay Kumar-headed ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ announced as a year-end release. “I have also heard that the film may take much longer to make and not reach cinemas this year. Let’s wait and watch!” Bansal says.

And speaking of ‘Pushpa 2’, a brand, how do prospects for the south-made pan-Indian films look like, with ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ and ‘Operation Valentine’ also coming in? In a non-committal response, the two clearly imply that each such movie work only on merits: there is little guarantee of success.

To conclude, 2024 will see Ranveer Singh, Kartik Aaryan, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Tiger Shroff, Shahid Kapoor and John Abraham holding fort. “And among heroines, only Alia Bhatt can bring in the audiences, as proved by ‘Raazi’ and ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’. The rest do not really command clout!” feels Bansal, who concedes that established franchises like ‘Stree 2’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ (if it makes it) may shine.

Director Nitesh Tiwari sums up, “Let me just say that big stars and content draw the audience!” he says. “The magic happens when both factors are there. Only content does work but stars are very important.”

And that is what seems to have gone missing this year.