Within Bollywood, a rethink is already on regarding some aspects of movie-making, such as budgets and mode of release (for instance, if a film is better suited to an OTT platform). “So, you will portray Muslim characters (in) a certain way you will also have the token good Muslim (like in Sooryavanshi) but nothing too overt and you will milk those sentiments because that has been the mood of the nation since 2014."īut the truth is, the film director added, a lot of people are watching and engaging with much better content and the pandemic has engineered a huge shift in taste and palette.
“Making films is a very expensive proposition and you need to cover all bases and moods if you want to make money," a movie director said, declining to be named. In many ways, the upcoming slate makes sense. Kartik Aaryan will play an air force pilot in a film titled Captain India, as will Hrithik Roshan in Fighter. Vicky Kaushal will play Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw who was the Chief of the Army Staff during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 in Sam Bahadur Ronnie Screwvala is producing two war films-Pippa on Brigadier Balram Singh Mehta who fought in the 1971 war and Tejas starring Kangana Ranaut. Kumar has announced three other films in recent months-Ram Setu, Gorkha, a film based on the life of Major General Ian Cardozo, and OMG 2, whose first look suggests he plays Lord Shiva. The film is based on the life of a king who was known to have fought for love but the trailer describes him as ‘Hindustan ka sher’ (Lion of Hindustan). The heightened emphasis on quality and fresh content may not exactly be great news for the Hindi film industry that is not only notorious for recycling the same stories over and over again but has also lined up a fresh slate of nationalist films for the coming months-from war dramas to period sagas and mythological tales.Īs if on cue, Akshay Kumar, poster-child of Bollywood nationalism, has historical drama Prithviraj scheduled for this January. Before covid, plenty of such mediocre films were doing well," the producer added. “Audiences have become very demanding and a major shift has taken place since the (onset of) covid-19, driven primarily by the metros and an educated, high-end viewer base. It just goes to show that an over-the-top jingoistic film with nothing fresh to offer will not work anymore." “(But) the same doesn’t hold true for Satyameva Jayate… that was just ‘in your face’ with nothing new to say. The presence of a popular star coupled with great stunts, exotic locations, and the right packaging helped make for a big-screen experience," a film producer said on condition of anonymity. “Sooryavanshi did a good job of keeping things cool even though the basic premise was clearly nationalistic. While all these films stuck to the well-tested ‘formula’, the law of diminishing returns seems to be kicking in since audiences have been exposed to other forms of content during the pandemic and have become more demanding, experts say. Kumar’s August release Bellbottom was another disappointment, according to trade analysts.
Disney+ Hotstar is estimated to have paid more than ₹90 crore to acquire the film.
The film starring John Abraham struggled to manage even a double-digit opening weekend figure at the box office.Ībraham’s ode to the nation came three months after actor Ajay Devgn’s Independence Day release Bhuj: The Pride of India that had streamed on Disney+ Hotstar with negligible buzz, brought in limited returns for the streaming platform.
Just three weeks after its release, another action drama, Satyameva Jayate 2, which swore on the tricolour to protect the motherland, failed to find many takers. While Sooryavanshi did net Rs75 crore on its opening weekend, the film is an outlier.