<p>It’s no longer mere speculation or the subject of heated discussions: The Ormax Media Box Office Report for 2024 has conclusively proved that Hindi cinema’s box office share fell by 4 per cent from the previous year. In 2023, with <em>Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2</em> and <em>Animal</em>, Hindi cinema crossed the Rs 5,000-crore mark for the first time to reach its pre-pandemic box-office share of 44 per cent.</p>.<p>In 2024, Telugu cinema (20 per cent) and Tamil cinema (15 per cent) retained their market share from the previous year. Malayalam cinema was the star performer, doubling its market share from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. The South collectively captured 45 per cent of the market. Overall, the Indian market had its second-best year in 2024, with a total box-office gross of Rs 11,833 crore, 3 per cent short of 2023’s record-breaking Rs 12,226 crore. </p>.<p>Know-it-alls attribute the downturn in Hindi cinema to content. Targeting the overseas market earlier, and more recently, a multiplex audience, even mainstream Bollywood has become increasingly urban and rarefied. Stories play out in the mansions of the super-rich or fly off to exotic lands with agents and superheroes. </p>.'Paatal Lok S2' review: Sharp Season 2 of a compelling series.<p>“South Indian cinema still reflects the concerns of small towns and rural India too, while around 190 of the 200-odd Hindi films released every year are elite, city-centric films with very niche content,” says senior industry tracker Ramesh Bala. Emphasising that India is still a developing country with a large population in the lower middle class bracket and lower, he reasons that these viewers cannot empathise with an influencer in Mumbai or relate to a relationship drama on a cruise ship. </p>.<p>“But give them a hardcore action film like Jawaan or even a horror-comedy like Stree 2, which fights otherworldly villains, and they will lap it up. Even with Hollywood films, the James Bond, Fast and Furious and Mission Impossible franchises have regularly scored over esoteric Oscar winners,” Ramesh adds. </p>.<p><strong>Cutting costs</strong></p>.<p>While Bollywood has turned away from the tried-and-tested action formula which made Zanjeer, Sholay and Deewar cult classics and Loha and Hukumat blockbusters, Tamil and Telugu cinema have stayed true to it. Their heroes are still one-man demolition armies, their stories explore caste discrimination, class oppression and political corruption, with a definite regional slant and are couched in the local dialect rather than Hinglish. That would explain how Pushpa 2: The Rule (Rs 1,403 crore gross), Kalki 2898 AD (Rs 776 crore gross), Devara: Part 1 (Rs 347 crore gross) and The Greatest of All Time (Rs 305 crore gross) added to South Indian cinema’s gross revenue of Rs 5,646 crore. This was 20.67 per cent higher than Hindi films, whose collections dropped from Rs 5,380 crore in 2023 to Rs 4,679 crore in 2024, with only Stree 2 (Rs 698 crore) drawing good revenue.</p>.<p>Also, while action thrillers starring Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Allu Arjun, Prabhas, Vijay, Ram Charan and NTR Jr are getting bigger, Bollywood is happy making Rs 150-200 crore films. “Even the star-studded Singham Again had a Rs 250 crore budget as compared to Devara: Part 1’s Rs 350 crore and Kalki 2898 AD’s Rs 600 crore investment. Consequently, these South extravaganzas, with their epic storytelling and scaled-up production values, are on par with Hollywood,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan. </p>.<p>With studio heads and corporates elbowing out traditional producers, B-town’s once strategic marketing too, has lost focus. Case in point is Baby John, which should have been pitched as Varun Dhawan’s first hardcore action thriller. But after a hard-hitting trailer, it lost its punch pre-release, by playing up the father-daughter angle and missing out on catchy songs. The actor even dressed up as Santa to sell his film as a Christmas <br>treat for children. The result of this confused promotion was a debacle, while the original, Atlee’s 2016 Tamil film Theri, had been a blockbuster. </p>.<p>“Marketing today is based on a set template: Five city tours, five mall visits, a handful of writeups and a growing reliance on influencers. Traditional standees, on-ground promotions and newspaper articles staggered over months and not in your face two weeks before release would work better,” says Atul.</p>.<p><strong>The crossover audience</strong></p>.<p>The Ormax report points to an even more worrying trend for Bollywood, with 31 per cent of its collections coming from dubbed Hindi versions of South Indian films. Ramesh Bala attributes this to a ‘crossover’ audience not just in the South, with Tamilians watching Telugu films and Andhraites watching Malayalam cinema, but even the once predominantly Hindi film audience veering towards regional cinema. This would also explain the ‘cross-pollination of talent’ between different film industries, like Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Shobhana and Saswata Chatterjee coming together for Kalki 2898 AD. </p>.<p>The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown were levelers too, breaking language barriers, particularly for Malayalam cinema. Today, the industry is as big with streaming giants as it is with theatres pan-India, with footfalls almost doubling to 12.6 crore. In 2000, Mohanlal’s action drama, Narsimham, had set a record, grossing Rs 20 crore; in 2024, the Kerala film industry crossed the Rs 1,000-crore milestone for the first time. This was a 104 per cent increase from 2023’s Rs 572 crore gross, with blockbusters like Manjummel Boys, Aavesham and Aadujeevitham– The Goat Life. </p>.<p><strong>Crystal ball predictions</strong></p>.<p>Amidst the gloom and doom prophecies for Hindi cinema, a more optimistic Amit Sharma, MD, Miraj Cinemas, points out that out of Pushpa 2’s Rs 1,403 crore gross revenue that took it to the top of the ladder, Rs 899 crore came from its Hindi dubbed version. “Today, we are talking about the box office in pan-India numbers rather than specific language industries, and going forward, this will only boost revenue,” he says. Sharma predicts gross domestic collections will touch $2 billion by 2026, rising from the current $1.37 billion, with people watching films in different languages across the country. </p>.<p>Sharma is also gung-ho about the Kannada film industry, despite its revenue dropping from Rs 810 crore gross in 2022 to Rs 304 crore gross in 2024. Amit points out that this year, Sandalwood has <br>Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1, the prequel to Rishabh Shetty’s 2022 period blockbuster, coming up, along with Yash’s Toxic, which is eagerly awaited across India following the success of his KGF franchise. “If both films see an expected business of Rs 800-1,000 crore each, Kannada cinema’s market share will jump from the current 3 per cent to 10-12 per cent, with a growth of almost 500 per cent. That is the beauty of this business, where no highs or lows are permanent,” he adds.</p>.<p>(Roshmila Bhattacharya is a journalist and author)</p>
<p>It’s no longer mere speculation or the subject of heated discussions: The Ormax Media Box Office Report for 2024 has conclusively proved that Hindi cinema’s box office share fell by 4 per cent from the previous year. In 2023, with <em>Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2</em> and <em>Animal</em>, Hindi cinema crossed the Rs 5,000-crore mark for the first time to reach its pre-pandemic box-office share of 44 per cent.</p>.<p>In 2024, Telugu cinema (20 per cent) and Tamil cinema (15 per cent) retained their market share from the previous year. Malayalam cinema was the star performer, doubling its market share from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. The South collectively captured 45 per cent of the market. Overall, the Indian market had its second-best year in 2024, with a total box-office gross of Rs 11,833 crore, 3 per cent short of 2023’s record-breaking Rs 12,226 crore. </p>.<p>Know-it-alls attribute the downturn in Hindi cinema to content. Targeting the overseas market earlier, and more recently, a multiplex audience, even mainstream Bollywood has become increasingly urban and rarefied. Stories play out in the mansions of the super-rich or fly off to exotic lands with agents and superheroes. </p>.'Paatal Lok S2' review: Sharp Season 2 of a compelling series.<p>“South Indian cinema still reflects the concerns of small towns and rural India too, while around 190 of the 200-odd Hindi films released every year are elite, city-centric films with very niche content,” says senior industry tracker Ramesh Bala. Emphasising that India is still a developing country with a large population in the lower middle class bracket and lower, he reasons that these viewers cannot empathise with an influencer in Mumbai or relate to a relationship drama on a cruise ship. </p>.<p>“But give them a hardcore action film like Jawaan or even a horror-comedy like Stree 2, which fights otherworldly villains, and they will lap it up. Even with Hollywood films, the James Bond, Fast and Furious and Mission Impossible franchises have regularly scored over esoteric Oscar winners,” Ramesh adds. </p>.<p><strong>Cutting costs</strong></p>.<p>While Bollywood has turned away from the tried-and-tested action formula which made Zanjeer, Sholay and Deewar cult classics and Loha and Hukumat blockbusters, Tamil and Telugu cinema have stayed true to it. Their heroes are still one-man demolition armies, their stories explore caste discrimination, class oppression and political corruption, with a definite regional slant and are couched in the local dialect rather than Hinglish. That would explain how Pushpa 2: The Rule (Rs 1,403 crore gross), Kalki 2898 AD (Rs 776 crore gross), Devara: Part 1 (Rs 347 crore gross) and The Greatest of All Time (Rs 305 crore gross) added to South Indian cinema’s gross revenue of Rs 5,646 crore. This was 20.67 per cent higher than Hindi films, whose collections dropped from Rs 5,380 crore in 2023 to Rs 4,679 crore in 2024, with only Stree 2 (Rs 698 crore) drawing good revenue.</p>.<p>Also, while action thrillers starring Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Allu Arjun, Prabhas, Vijay, Ram Charan and NTR Jr are getting bigger, Bollywood is happy making Rs 150-200 crore films. “Even the star-studded Singham Again had a Rs 250 crore budget as compared to Devara: Part 1’s Rs 350 crore and Kalki 2898 AD’s Rs 600 crore investment. Consequently, these South extravaganzas, with their epic storytelling and scaled-up production values, are on par with Hollywood,” says trade analyst Atul Mohan. </p>.<p>With studio heads and corporates elbowing out traditional producers, B-town’s once strategic marketing too, has lost focus. Case in point is Baby John, which should have been pitched as Varun Dhawan’s first hardcore action thriller. But after a hard-hitting trailer, it lost its punch pre-release, by playing up the father-daughter angle and missing out on catchy songs. The actor even dressed up as Santa to sell his film as a Christmas <br>treat for children. The result of this confused promotion was a debacle, while the original, Atlee’s 2016 Tamil film Theri, had been a blockbuster. </p>.<p>“Marketing today is based on a set template: Five city tours, five mall visits, a handful of writeups and a growing reliance on influencers. Traditional standees, on-ground promotions and newspaper articles staggered over months and not in your face two weeks before release would work better,” says Atul.</p>.<p><strong>The crossover audience</strong></p>.<p>The Ormax report points to an even more worrying trend for Bollywood, with 31 per cent of its collections coming from dubbed Hindi versions of South Indian films. Ramesh Bala attributes this to a ‘crossover’ audience not just in the South, with Tamilians watching Telugu films and Andhraites watching Malayalam cinema, but even the once predominantly Hindi film audience veering towards regional cinema. This would also explain the ‘cross-pollination of talent’ between different film industries, like Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Shobhana and Saswata Chatterjee coming together for Kalki 2898 AD. </p>.<p>The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown were levelers too, breaking language barriers, particularly for Malayalam cinema. Today, the industry is as big with streaming giants as it is with theatres pan-India, with footfalls almost doubling to 12.6 crore. In 2000, Mohanlal’s action drama, Narsimham, had set a record, grossing Rs 20 crore; in 2024, the Kerala film industry crossed the Rs 1,000-crore milestone for the first time. This was a 104 per cent increase from 2023’s Rs 572 crore gross, with blockbusters like Manjummel Boys, Aavesham and Aadujeevitham– The Goat Life. </p>.<p><strong>Crystal ball predictions</strong></p>.<p>Amidst the gloom and doom prophecies for Hindi cinema, a more optimistic Amit Sharma, MD, Miraj Cinemas, points out that out of Pushpa 2’s Rs 1,403 crore gross revenue that took it to the top of the ladder, Rs 899 crore came from its Hindi dubbed version. “Today, we are talking about the box office in pan-India numbers rather than specific language industries, and going forward, this will only boost revenue,” he says. Sharma predicts gross domestic collections will touch $2 billion by 2026, rising from the current $1.37 billion, with people watching films in different languages across the country. </p>.<p>Sharma is also gung-ho about the Kannada film industry, despite its revenue dropping from Rs 810 crore gross in 2022 to Rs 304 crore gross in 2024. Amit points out that this year, Sandalwood has <br>Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1, the prequel to Rishabh Shetty’s 2022 period blockbuster, coming up, along with Yash’s Toxic, which is eagerly awaited across India following the success of his KGF franchise. “If both films see an expected business of Rs 800-1,000 crore each, Kannada cinema’s market share will jump from the current 3 per cent to 10-12 per cent, with a growth of almost 500 per cent. That is the beauty of this business, where no highs or lows are permanent,” he adds.</p>.<p>(Roshmila Bhattacharya is a journalist and author)</p>