Manoj Desai is quite miffed. He has spent 52 years in the Hindi film industry, a place where success and failure are equally unpredictable.
However, he is clear that this is by far the toughest phase ever. And not without reason.
The well-known producer and executive director of Mumbai-based G7 multiplex and Maratha Mandir, has a problem on hand and that is the cancellation of the afternoon show.
The much-hyped Bade Miyan Chote Miyan has bombed at the box-office — Sacnilk.com says collections across India at the end of Day 11 was Rs 53 crore on a budget of Rs 350 crore — with the presence of star Akshay Kumar not making a difference.
The other big one was Maidaan, a biographical sports drama, with Ajay Devgn in the lead. It has garnered barely Rs 30 crore and on a budget of over Rs 150 crore.
“Let’s be clear. Content is a big issue today,” says Desai. The first quarter of the 2024 calendar is done and the disappointment is visible — limited number of hits. What has stunned Desai is the lack of interest among the audience when April had a bunch of holidays. “OTT is already chewing our business and if we don’t have good content, it gets even more difficult.”
This is the beginning of summer and the release pipeline is expected to be robust. Schools and colleges take a break and a healthy box-office lays the base for the rest of the year. Girish Johar, producer and film business expert, points to the ability of the audience to spend but not a great deal of willingness. Yes, people are staying away. The reasons are around quality of content, expensive tickets, IPL, OTT and the general elections,” he says. To his mind, good content could have saved the day. “Bade Miya Chote Miyan was a bad film and Maidaan has been in the works for top long. I don’t think we’ve had a more unproductive Eid at the Hindi box-office.”
Bollywood needs to do a few other things. For instance, the length of the film is an issue. Desai says it is easily 2.15 hours not counting for the break. “It is a lot to expect from a person to keep that kind of time aside and then end up watching a bad film. There is not enough thought going into the process and that is dangerous.”
There are a few home truths that the industry needs to needs to recognise in a post-pandemic world. Watching content at one’s convenience is a reality. “The fact is people have been shying away from theatres. Family viewing has dropped and there is a marked change in preference among the youngsters,” thinks trade analyst, Amod Mehra. While he speaks of the exhibition business in a spot — even the most conservative estimates would suggest at least 70% of single-screen theatres on large centres have been pulled down — the issue on content is that even ordinary films struggle to do normal business. “We are getting carried away by a few successes and nothing is being done to address the more fundamental issue of content. Only that can make the business model stronger,” he says emphatically.
